


Domesticating the Dark Lord

by EzzyDean



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, HQ Brofest Champion Tier, Platonic Soulmates, hqbrofest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-26 20:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10794198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzzyDean/pseuds/EzzyDean
Summary: InLeaves of Astryethe infamously evil Dark Lord and the majestically kind Hero of Light team up to save their world from the evil sweeping through it like a plague.  On Earth Tooru and Asahi do their best to save each other from what constitutes to their daily grind, with the occasional struggle of soulmates and conspiracies and mysterious figures in the billowing fog.DaRkLoRd:hey check out this linkDaRkLoRd:>>>3 aliens walk into a diner and take it over, what happens next will SHOCK youhero_0f_light:…





	1. fruit snack proposal/will robinson

**Author's Note:**

> this is actually part one to a much longer idea but can totally be read all by itself

The Hero respawns, white armor gleaming in the light as the dents and kool-aid red blood fade away to nothing, and debates, not for the first time, switching to a server  _ without _ friendly fire turned on.  The co-owner of his guild jogs up to him, dark mage robes pristine as can be, and starts looting the singed corpses around them.

 

**hero_0f_light: I swear if you light me on fire one more time…**

**DaRkLoRd: sorry**

**hero_0f_light: -.-**

**DaRkLoRd: (notsorry)**

**hero_0f_light: that’s it.  I’m out.  I’m taking @bork_bork and @jazzhands and starting a new guild.**

**DaRkLoRd: don’t leave me with @SirStabby and @TooHoot please im sorry come back**

**DaRkLoRd: babe?  lover?  light of my life?**

**DaRkLoRd: I’ll give you the rest of my fruit snacks if you don’t leave me**

**hero_0f_light: be still my heart.**

 

Asahi shakes his head and ventures away from his computer to fix himself lunch.  He loves Tooru, he really does, but some days he wonders why he ever thought listening to Ryuu and searching for his soulmate was a good idea.

 

Soulmates are unusual.  They aren’t exactly taboo but they’re not exactly the kind of thing you bring up in ‘polite company’ and all that either.  They’re rare and strange and hard to find and harder to prove and Ryuu likes to describe them as a type of cryptid: they can't be entirely confirmed nor disproved by science.  No one knows for sure how soulmates are decided or the details of what kind of talents or powers they might have.

 

Asahi woke up on his fifteenth birthday with a dark flower blooming over the pulse of his left wrist with dark lines swirling down the inside of his arm to his elbow.  Makki had studied it, carefully turning Asahi’s arm this way and that in the light before yanking his shirt sleeve down and giving Asahi a bone crushing hug.  Daichi hadn’t said much about it but for the next week he had been a near permanent fixture at Asahi’s side, tugging Asahi’s sleeve down to keep the mark covered and diverting everyone’s attention away from Asahi by reminding them that he turned fifteen the other day too and why wasn’t anyone curious about if  _ he _ had any special changes.  Ryuu had taken one look at his arm and insisted that he needed to start searching for his soulmate immediately.  He didn’t really feel comfortable diving into the seedy parts of the online world and even if he did he wouldn’t know where to start.  So he poked through what was readily, and safely, available and decided that for the time being he would leave it at that. 

 

He had stumbled upon Tooru by accident when he was seventeen.  They were both beta testers for a new MMORPG game - Tooru was apparently very much into them and Asahi had recently gotten hooked when he was home for nearly a week with the flu and had run out of movies to watch - and Asahi had happened to log on while Tooru had been in the middle of a World Chat rant about soulmates.  One thing had led to another and after four days of worrying over it he finally sent Tooru a private message.  Well Daichi sent it for him while Makki did his usual octopus latch of comfort around Asahi’s chest while Asahi tried not to worry and panic too much.  

 

But it had worked and they started talking and now Asahi’s here: back from grabbing a sandwich and seeing Tooru and Makki on screen apparently planning a wedding.  He’s not sure if they’re talking in game or real life.  Either way it’s bad enough he’s Tooru’s soulmate.  He’s not marrying the guy.

  
  


**hero_0f_light: I am not marrying you because you gave me fruit snacks**

**hero_0f_light: also you have not actually given me said fruit snacks so.  no.**

**DaRkLoRd: will you marry me for tax and medical benefits and so you can legally visit me when @bork_bork inevitably puts me in the hospital some day** **  
** **DaRkLoRd: also check out this link**

**DaRkLoRd: >>>3 aliens walk into a diner and take it over, what happens next will SHOCK you**

**hero_0f_light: …**

**hero_0f_light: I’ll consider it**

**hero_0f_light: the marriage not the link**

  
  


A sound outside of the game catches his attention and Asahi taps his headphones off one ear to listen to his apartment.  He doesn’t hear anything unusual or out of place but he leaves his headphone pushed to the side for a few minutes while he focuses back on the game and gets his character set up to run the dungeon with Tooru again.  This time hopefully without getting lit on fire.  He hasn’t heard anything but the normal ambiance of his apartment by the time they’re both ready for a second run so he pulls his headphones back on and focuses on their game with a shake of his head.  He’s really gotta stop letting Makki convince him to watch all those cop shows with him on the weekends.

  
  


He also really needs to stop staying up until the wee hours of the morning playing games with Tooru, he decides when he stumbles out of his apartment just before noon and glares blearily at the sun shining brightly down on him.  These kinds of hours are easier for Tooru who gets by thanks to a large inheritance from a favorite uncle who passed away a couple years ago and the large number of followers on his various blogs.  Asahi, on the other hand, actually has to drag himself out of bed and into a work uniform and go to a job.  It’s not so bad, really.  He enjoys his work for the most part.  The few coworkers he deals with on a daily basis are decent people.  He just sometimes wishes that he could be like Tooru and play games and dazzle people with his wit and charm and get paid for it.

 

Though that would require him to have the kind of wit and charm Tooru does and actually interact well with people and he prefers working in the kitchen of the bakery a few blocks from his apartment, doing random small tasks and cleaning and helping with loading and unloading trucks, just so he can avoid that kind of interaction.  Asahi pauses as he reaches for the handle of the shop’s back alley entrance, torn from his thoughts by the sight of a flash of purple cloth from the corner of his eye.  He turns to tell whoever it is that the alley is off limits to the public, mentally preparing himself for the confrontation and to perhaps ask them not to stare at him so much - he can feel the heavy weight of an intrigued stare as easily as he can feel the sun shining down on him.  His stomach drops when he turns and no one is there.  A quick glance around the eerily empty and silent alley has his fingers quivering and he pushes open the door to the shop and rushes inside, nearly slamming into one of his coworkers in his haste.

 

A shiver works its way down his spine as he recalls the crystal clear sensation of being stared at despite the apparently empty alley and he decides that he really, really needs to stop watching cop dramas with Makki on the weekends.

His grocery bags hit the floor a step inside his door and Asahi wonders if he could get away with just going straight to bed.  He can’t remember if he has anything cold or frozen in them, though - it’s been a long day, okay, and he’s only been awake about nine hours - so after he slips out of his shoes and jacket he decides to just go ahead and put them away.  

 

It had been hard enough to concentrate at the convenience store when he had been trying to pick up a few groceries for the week and Tooru had been scribbling little messages of warning in silvery scrawls along their matching marks.  The messages themselves aren’t so bad even if they are often a bit dramatic.  It’s kind of nice to know that they’re always connected no matter how far away they are and even as irritating as it gets sometimes it’s nice to know Tooru is concerned for him.  The part that’s hard to handle is the fact that every single stroke makes Asahi’s arm itch like Tooru is writing directly on his skin with a pen dipped in poison ivy.  Which makes it a bit awkward to try to concentrate on menial everyday tasks like paying for groceries or unloading a truck at work when he is also trying not to scratch the skin off of his arm.

 

After he puts away his groceries - since apparently he is incapable of being lazy like that despite how tired he is today -  he heads to his room to change but backtracks and squints suspiciously at his computer screen when he registers what he sees.

 

It’s not his normal login screen nor is it the login for any application he can remember having on his computer.  A quick glance around his apartment shows that despite his door being unlocked all day, though he could have sworn he locked it when he left earlier, nothing seems out of place.  No used glasses in the sink or clothes left scattered in his room like there would be if Ryuu or Makki had let themselves in.  Just his computer.  And its black screen with blocky white text spaced across it.  That alone wouldn’t really make him pause much because sometimes his computer does that when he turns it on or reboots it and it runs through all its scans and stuff - he is not a computer expert nor does he want to be one he just wants to watch silly animal videos and play ridiculous games with Tooru and watch Tooru try not to set their teammates on fire so he’s not entirely sure what all the specific processes are.  No.  The part that makes him pause is the little purple blotch in the middle of the screen.

 

After another cautious peek into his kitchen and down the short hallway to the bathroom and bedroom he carefully steps to the chair he left his laptop sitting on that morning.

 

The purple blotch is a small apple icon.  At least he thinks its an apple.  It kind of looks like some weird rendition that would come out of describing an apple to someone without using the word apple.  Also it’s purple which is not exactly standard apple coloring that he’s aware of.  The little mint green login box under the purple apple is waiting for some kind of input, white cursor blinking steadily at him, and he stares back at it, trying to figure out what he’s supposed to do with it.  Is it waiting for him?  Is this some sort of new security update he’s unaware of?  The text on the screen doesn’t help him figure anything out.  The letters look vaguely familiar and entirely alien at the same time, like something on the poster in the background of a video game.

 

His eyes are drawn back to that blinking cursor.

 

It’s strange how soothing a blinking cursor can be.  Usually he finds them a bit stressful.  But this one, in that nice mint green box, reminds him of napping in the sun and watching clouds high in the sky drift past.

 

He reaches out for the keyboard.

 

His fingers spasm when he feels the poison ivy scrawl of Tooru writing on their mark and he pushes up his sleeve to see what Tooru’s pestering him about this time.

 

He misses the series of stars and hash tags filling the box and only looks up from Tooru’s worried words when he catches the screen flicker back to his usual desktop out of the corner of his eye.

 

The computer looks the same as always when he gets back from changing out of his work clothes and he loads up _ Leaves of Astrye _ and prepares himself for the onslaught of messages no doubt waiting for him from Tooru.

  
  


**DaRkLoRd: DANGER!**

**DaRkLoRd: DANGER WILL ROBINSON!**

**DaRkLoRd: DANGER!!!**

**DaRkLoRd: DANGER!!!**

**DaRkLoRd: DANGER!!!**

**DaRkLoRd: DANGER!!!**

**DaRkLoRd: DANGER!!!**

**DaRkLoRd: DANGER!!!**

**DaRkLoRd: DANGER!!!**

**[141 new messages below]**

  
  


He is not prepared enough.

 

Asahi drags his hand down his face with a groan and debates just ignoring Tooru and his messages and logging back off of the game. 

  
  


**hero_0f_light: One: plz tell me you didn’t send me danger over 100 times**

**hero_0f_light: Two: I thought we decided you wouldn’t watch that movie again for at least another month**

**hero_0f_light: Three: I was just getting breakfast and a few groceries and there was no one around except for the cashier.  No danger.**

  
  


It also doesn’t help that Tooru often does it when he gets the niggling sensation that Asahi is in some kind of danger - yet another of their strange set of soulmate skills - which seems to be every day lately.

  
  


**DaRkLoRd: one: I sent you DANGER! once DANGER!!! 137 times and ASAHI WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU ANSWER ME PLEASE about 10 times**

**DaRkLoRd: two: you decided.  I do what I want**

**DaRkLoRd: three: I can’t shut off the danger sensing thing you know this what if I ignore it and you’re dead in a ditch or something huh?**

**DaRkLoRd: what then?**

**hero_0f_light: if I’m dead in a ditch I doubt you’ll sense it**

**hero_0f_light: since, you know, I’ll be dead**

**hero_0f_light: but thank you for your concern**

  
  


Sometimes Asahi wishes they understood their soulmate quirks better.  But he’s still wary to go looking for more about them.  Despite Tooru being neck deep in government conspiracy and cover up stuff and Asahi being more on the skeptical side of things it’s one thing they both agree on: trying to search for more than just a general knowledge of soulmate information is practically asking for trouble.

  
  


**DaRkLoRd: idk why you act like tis nothing important**

**DaRkLoRd: ik when you’re in danger why don’t you believe me**

**hero_0f_light: I do.  I just don’t think the danger of indigestion from fast food is something you need to warn me about.**

**hero_0f_light: do you want me to worry and panic?**

**hero_0f_light: cause i can.  im good at that**

**DaRkLoRd: NO.  NO PANICKING.  BE COOL.**

**DaRkLoRd: IT’S JUST… I CAN SENSE IT!  WHY WON’T YOU LISTEN?**

**hero_0f_light: i swear if you tell me one more conspiracy theory about cameras in fire detectors i will personally throw you off a bridge**

**DaRkLoRd: THERE IS PROOOOF!  I SENT YOU THE LINKS!  YOU-**

**DaRkLoRd: you didn’t click on them did you?  you click all of @SirStabby’s links**

**DaRkLoRd: TRAITOR**

  
  


This was it, Asahi decides as he rubs at his temple and contemplates going back to bed, this was the day he kills his soulmate.  No one could blame him.  Not even Tooru’s aliens and government agents in dad shorts and snapbacks that, according to him, were on every street corner.

  
  


**DaRkLoRd: okay but seriously.  you’re good?  no creepies following you around?**

**DaRkLoRd: you’re not still seeing that car everywhere are you?**

**hero_0f_light: haven’t seen it for a few days**

**hero_0f_light: I thought I saw someone in the alley outside work but when I went to say something to them there was no one there**

**hero_0f_light: but to be fair I was running on 3 hours of sleep, an energy drink, and a double shot espresso**

**SirStabby: dude**

**SirStabby: no**

**SirStabby: you and espresso and energy drinks are not a correct combination**

**SirStabby: my friend.  we talked about this.  we had a Discussion (tm)**


	2. tooru's last straw

Strange noises filter into his dream.  Odd little creaks and crackles and soft thumps and thwaps and one well placed muffled clunk that have him grumbling and burrowing under his blankets.  The slightest brush of cool air against his ankles is his only warning before the sole of his bare foot is being scratched gently, the touch almost curious, and he jerks his foot away with a yelp.

 

“Tooru I swear-” he sits up and throws his blanket off, blinking into the morning light and ready to glare at Tooru and scold him for waking him up with the broom poking at his foot again.  Except Tooru isn’t in the room.  No one is.  The bottom of his foot burns with the memory of being touched and he swallows hard.  His door swings open slowly and his breath catches, sure that no one will be on the other side.  His hands go clammy as the door reveals a shadowy figure.  He whimpers just a little in that half a second before Tooru steps into his bedroom, broom on his shoulder and cheeky grin on his face that falls when he sees Asahi already awake.

 

“Aw.  Ruin all my fun.  What are you doing awake?”  He uses the broom handle to poke at Asahi’s stomach, easily dodging Asahi’s hand when he tries to bat it away.

 

“You were-” Asahi gestures towards the foot of his bed, “-poking my foot.”

 

Tooru raises his eyebrows.  “Um.  No?  I brought coffee and put it in the kitchen.  Then came in here just now.”

 

“Are you messing with me?  Is this payback for letting Daichi eat the milk bread you left here last week?”

 

He grabs his phone to check the time - and avoid Tooru’s stare for a bit longer - only to toss it back on the nightstand when he all he gets is an error message.  It’s too early for this and he just wants to sleep a bit longer before Tooru drags him off to on whatever weekend adventure he has planned for them today.

 

A shadow of unease crosses Tooru’s face as the bed dips under his weight.  “Is it still happening?  The weird shit?  I thought you said everything was okay again.”

 

A loud squawk startles them both and Tooru launches across the bed to snatch Asahi’s phone from the nightstand before Asahi can move to grab it.

 

“Daichi wants to know when we’ll be there.  Apparently my sister is too amazing for him to handle alone.”  Tooru frowns as he taps out a reply.  Asahi would try to take his phone back but he knows from experience that Tooru, quite literally, bites in retaliation.  “I want to know if you’re ever going to change that ringtone or start locking your phone.”

 

“I like using your offended squawk as Daichi’s ringtone and I thought I did lock it,” Asahi replies.  He debates the pros and cons of a bleeding hand should he try to take his phone away and maybe shove Tooru to the floor in the process.  Just as he decides to risk it - he has bandaids in the bathroom for a reason after all - a series of howls outside has Tooru dropping the phone in surprise and cursing as he tries to catch it.  Asahi pulls himself from bed finally but doesn’t bother checking on the noise.  He knows that if he pulls back the curtain and looks down at the collection of neighborhood dogs lining the sidewalk they’ll all just start yowling louder until their owners come and collect them or Asahi leaves via the back door of the building.

 

Tooru eyes the window warily.  “Do I wanna-”

 

“No,” Asahi groans.  “Just ignore it and tell me what I need to prepare for today.”

  
  


“Have you seen my keys?”  Asahi asks a half hour later after he’s dressed and has finished his coffee and is as ready to head over to Tooru’s sister’s house for lunch as he can ever be; Momoko still kind of scares him sometimes even now that he’s known her for years and Takeru stares at him all the time in a way that is two parts Tooru’s calculating stare of doom and one part that all knowing stare that only children under the age of eleven seem to have.

 

“Yeah I saw them on the kitchen counter when I put your coffee down earlier.”

 

Asahi looks down at his empty counter.

 

“You see them anywhere else?”

 

Tooru swings around the doorway and leans into the kitchen with a confused look on his face.  “No they’re right-”  He stares at the counter.  “I swear I put that coffee down right next to them.”

 

They search for them while Asahi grabs his wallet and find them hanging on the hook under his jacket.

“That is so weird.”

 

Asahi shrugs.  “Some days I think Ryuu is right and this place is haunted.”  Asahi grabs Tooru’s messenger bag and throws him a look over his shoulder as he leaves.  

“That’s not funny at all.”  Tooru follows with a pout.

 

—

 

“I’m serious, Azu.”  Tooru pauses at a crosswalk, glancing down the street towards the bus stop and then across it to the park.  Asahi nods towards the park.

 

“I know you are.  You have your serious face on,” Asahi teases.  He doesn’t even have to look to know Tooru is rolling his eyes.

 

The shortcut through the park is quiet, almost eerily so, but it’s such a common occurrence lately that Asahi doesn’t even register it until Tooru says something about the lack of birds around.

 

“There’s not even a freaking pigeon around.  What the hell?”

 

No pigeons - or other birds for that matter not even the ducks that are always in the little pond in the center of the park - no crickets chirping or flies buzzing past.  No dogs barking here.  Just.  Silence.  Asahi can feel the burn of Tooru’s eyes on him but he stares resolutely ahead, eyes on the arch of the entrance they’re headed for and once they’ve cleared that Tooru’s sister’s house is only a few blocks away and that’s what he’s focusing on.  The moment they step through it a police siren screams to life a few blocks away and they both jump at the sudden return of noise; far off traffic and the chattering of people and the bustle of the city floods back to them.  Asahi refuses to look back at the park and the sensation of being studied stays on him even after Tooru turns away from him to eye the innocent sunlit park warily.

  
  


It’s rather common for Momoko’s cat to keep his distance from Asahi - they’ve never really been great friends after all, he and Jellybelly - and Asahi can probably count on one hand the number of times Jelly has willingly let Asahi touch him in the three years Momoko has had him.  Which is why the fact that Jelly hasn’t let Asahi out of his sight from the moment they arrived is creeping him out.  Jelly even throws a fit when Asahi tries to use the bathroom, crying and mewling and attacking the door until Asahi cracks it open and lets him in.  Peeing with a cat watching him is awkward but trying to pee with the cat sounding like some sort of horror movie extra being ripped apart outside the door had been worse.

 

“Is Jelly sick or something?”

 

Momoko is too busy dragging Tooru down the hallway into her study to answer.  Tooru gives him a pleading look that Asahi pretends not to see as he turns the opposite direction and heads for the kitchen, Jelly a step behind him.

 

“Are you dying?”  Asahi does not yelp or swallow his tongue when Takeru sneaks up behind him.  Barely.  “Cause the last time Jelly followed me around like that I was sick and thought I was gonna die.”

 

“I am not dying, Takeru,” Asahi says with a deep breath.

 

“Oh.”  Takeru hops up onto the counter and swings his feet, watching as Asahi pulls out a box of crackers and munches on them.

 

“Why do you sound disappointed by that?  And I thought you weren’t supposed to be on the counters.”

 

Takeru digs out a handful of crackers and shrugs at Asahi.  “Mom’s gonna be busy torturing Tooru for a bit.  She’s got new makeup  _ and _ three new outfit ideas to test so she’ll never know.  Unless  _ you’re _ gonna tattle on me.”

  
  


By the time Tooru is free of his sister’s clutches Asahi has made himself and Takeru lunch and they are in the middle of an intense Mario Kart race.  Asahi hears Tooru rustling around in the kitchen for a few minutes before he comes into the living room and settles onto the couch next to Asahi, tucking himself in the small space between the armrest and Asahi’s lap instead of sitting in the large open space on the other side.

 

“Really?”  Asahi asks distractedly as he narrowly dodges a shell thrown by Takeru.

 

“She used mascara.  She threatened to poke my eye out with it.  I feel unsafe.”  Tooru shudders and wriggles himself even further into Asahi’s space.  “She threatened to wax my legs next time, Asahi.”

 

Asahi pats Tooru’s shin with his elbow in the best attempt at comfort he can right now without taking his hands from the controller.  Takeru was not an opponent to be taken lightly and Asahi was determined to win this time around.  Tooru whines a little and goes on about whatever evils his sister inflicted on him for the sake of her fashion and makeup articles and photoshoot.  Asahi nods and hums in all the right places as Takeru thoroughly kicks his ass.

 

“I win again.”  Takeru sticks his hand out and wriggles his fingers at Asahi.  “Pay up.”

 

“You’re teaching my precious nephew horrible things, Asahi.”

 

“He’s the one who bet me, Tooru, and I distinctly remember you betting him dessert last month that you could beat him.  So.  Zip it.”

  
  


Tooru snaps his fingers in front of Jelly’s face a few times.  The cat doesn’t even flinch, barely even blinks, and Tooru looks at Asahi in disbelief.

 

“Did you break my sister’s cat?”

 

Asahi has spent the last fifteen minutes being stared at by Jelly.  Not passive staring or partial staring where the cat looks away and then back at him, oh no.  Asahi has been the sole focus of Jelly’s attention for fifteen minutes and after being followed around by the cat all day it’s making Asahi more than a little uncomfortable.  Which is why he is sitting on the couch with his eyes closed and practicing his breathing techniques.

 

“I did not break the cat.”  He scrunches his face and peeks one eye open.  Jelly is still staring at him despite Tooru’s fingers dangling in prime clawing and chewing range.  “Tooru,” he whines.  “I feel like he’s staring into my soul.  And possibly devouring it.”

 

Tooru opens his mouth to reply only to slowly close it as the high chiming notes of a music box fill the air.  Asahi stares at Tooru, frozen, as the notes stretch out and Tooru stares back, yelping in shock when the notes suddenly cut off and Jelly takes off from his seat on the back of the couch and flies out of the room.  They can hear him skittering across the kitchen and then he’s racing down the hallway to the bedrooms where he starts mewling and batting at the closed closet door.

 

“What,” Tooru states blankly.  Jelly is rattling the door like there’s a million cans of tuna hiding behind them and he’s determined to break in.

 

“The hell?”  Asahi whispers as the strange music picks up again.  It’s coming from his phone, he realizes a minute later when he nearly knocks it off the end table next to him, but as soon as his fingers wrap around it the music stops.  He unlocks it with shaking fingers and finds he has a missed call from a number that’s actually just a string of impossibly long letters and random symbols.

 

—

 

The thing about being soulmates with Tooru is that there never seems to be any rhyme or reason to their ‘special abilities’ that either of them can figure out.  They sense when the other is in danger of some kind but the danger ranges from Asahi getting punched extra hard in the shoulder by Daichi to Tooru almost stepping into busy traffic.  They can write messages to each other but only along their marks and it always feels like a burning itch crawling along their skin, nothing pleasant at all.  Sometimes it seems like they can hear each others’ thoughts but Asahi figures that’s more from spending so much time together the last seven years than anything ‘special’ about them.  There are other small things here and there that Asahi isn’t sure about, mostly he’s not sure if they’re real things or just coincidences.

 

But his favorite thing to come from finding that he had a soulmate and actually finding said soulmate was something that only happened when they were asleep together.  They had tested it one humid summer week.  Real scientific tests where Tooru had charts he filled in and a question sheet he insisted they fill out each time they woke up and Asahi still has the glossy report of Tooru’s findings tucked away in his lockbox.  They had discovered that if they were in the same room they could fall asleep within minutes when it usually took Tooru hours to get there.  If they were within a couple feet of each other they slept deeply and soundly whereas Asahi was usually restless and a light sleeper.  If they shared a bed they would have vivid dreams, bright colors and sharp sounds and fantastical creatures and wild adventures, and if they were touching they could share their dreams.

 

That was his favorite part.  The dreams he and Tooru would share curled up together, even just during a quick nap, were magical things that put every game and book and movie he’d ever experienced to shame.

 

They had gone to bed not long after getting back from Momoko’s - after Tooru had searched through Asahi’s apartment for the beanie he swore he left on Asahi’s counter next to Asahi’s keys and finally found it in the little broom closet in the kitchen - and were deeply asleep in a matter of minutes.

 

By all rights he should be passed out until at least 8 or 9 in the morning.

 

So why is he awake at - he grabs blindly for his phone and winces at the brightness of the clock on it - 2AM?

 

Tooru shudders awake beside him and slaps at Asahi’s chest a few times before he realizes Asahi is not his alarm clock and that’s not what woke him up and he manages to sit up and look around the bedroom blearily.

 

“What is that chirping,” Tooru slurs a little as he wipes at his watery eyes.  “Why is it still dark out?”

 

“Because it’s two,” Asahi grumbles.

 

“The fuck?”

 

“Dunno.”

 

The tiny little chirps continue ever few seconds as they untangle themselves from the blankets and stagger across the room.  Tooru pokes his head out of the bedroom and Asahi peers over his shoulder until Tooru huffs and reaches back for his hand, which he uses to drag Asahi down the hall with him and they shuffle awkwardly and cautiously through the short hall and past the tiny living room until they’re pressed together in the doorway of the kitchen staring at the ceiling.

 

Short little aborted chirps are accompanied by weak little red blinks.

 

“Take the battery out or something.”

 

“What if there’s a fire?”

 

“In the next six hours?  I don’t care.”  The little blips and chirps continue as Asahi’s eyes adjust to the dim light of the kitchen.  “I’ll buy you everything new.  Whatever.  Just pull it out.”

 

“You do it.”

 

“It’s your apartment.”

 

“You’re the one wanting me to have an unfunctional smoke alarm.”

 

The chirps continue.

 

“It’s already unfunctional, Asahi.”

 

“Well if we’re pulling the battery out we need the step stool.”

 

Tooru glances down the hallway towards the bedroom and then shakes his head.  “Just lift me up and I’ll do it.”

 

If it wasn’t 2AM and Asahi wasn’t exhausted he would insist on the safety of the step stool.

 

But it is 2AM and he is exhausted.

 

So he squats and wraps his arms around Tooru’s waist and lifts him so he can reach the smoke alarm.  He wobbles a little at the odd placement of Tooru’s weight and can barely breathe with his face pressed into Tooru’s stomach but in just a few quick seconds Tooru has the alarm pulled apart and the battery yanked out and tossed onto the counter and the kitchen is blissfully quiet.  Then Tooru drapes himself over Asahi’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes and pats his butt gently.

 

“Onward valiant steed.  Back to bed.”

  
  


Soft but insistent chirps wake him a second time and he is no less disoriented or grumpy about it and he stares up at the ceiling and contemplates things like breaking glasses and tearing phone books in half.  Tooru thrashes under the blankets next to him and launches himself from the bed.

 

It’s 4AM and despite the alarm not having a battery and not being connected to any wiring in the apartment it is still chirping softly.

 

Tooru stalks from the room growling something about getting the broom and in a few seconds Asahi hears a faint crunch and the alarm dies mid chirp.  Tooru returns and buries himself under the blankets, yanking Asahi close and muttering under his breath as he falls back asleep.

  
  
  


Soft chirps fill the apartment.

 

Asahi stares at Tooru and blinks slowly, almost ready to fall back asleep standing in the middle of his bedroom.

 

Tooru stares at the small digital clock on Asahi’s dresser, has been staring at it for the last three minutes.  It hasn’t changed at all in that time, bright purple 6:23 staring back at him.

 

“Nope,” he states.  “Nope.”  He shakes his head.  “This is the last straw.  All the shit you’ve been telling me has been happening?  Then the weird stuff yesterday with Jellybelly.  And the damn alarm last night and now this?  Nope.  We are getting the hell out of here, Azu.  I know a place.  We’ll be safe there.  We can leave today.”

  
“Tomorrow,” Asahi agrees softly.  He’s so tired.  “Gotta tell Daichi.”


	3. on the road/i-spy my foot up your ass

“Okay, so,” Tooru says as he sticks his head into the SUV.

 

“No,” Asahi replies, not even looking up from his phone.

 

“You didn’t even hear what I was going to say.”

 

“I’ve discovered that when  _ you _ start a conversation, text or in person, with ‘okay so’ I tend to regret every choice I’ve made in my life for about a week.  At the very least.”

 

“You only regretted your life for three days last time, actually,” Daichi butts in.  He shoves his duffel bag into the back of the SUV and slams the trunk shut.  “Well three and a half and then we got very drunk.”

 

“And then I regretted my life for an entirely new reason.”

 

“Love you too.”  Daichi hops into the passenger seat with a wink.

 

“Anyway.”  Tooru gets in and twists around in the driver’s seat to get Asahi’s attention.  Which he gives with a sigh.  “Now that we’re all here and ready to go-”

 

“Except that you, me, and Daichi are the only ones here.”

 

Tooru snorts.  “Makki’s here too.”

 

On cue, a hand grabs the back of his seat and Asahi yelps in shock, phone flying somewhere under his seat and heart rate jackrabbiting into an unhealthy range.

 

“I hate you,” he gasps out.  Makki’s bright laughter fills his ears from the seat behind him and he glares at Daichi.  “Is this why you told me to take this set of seats and not the back one?”

 

“Would I do that to you?”

 

“Yes,” they all reply in unison.

 

“It was your idea,” Makki says.

 

“You went along with it.”  Daichi grins at the two in the back of the SUV and then turns to Tooru.  “So are we heading out to pick up Ryuu and your bestie or what?”

 

“You know when you call him that it just sounds weird.”

 

“Well Ryuunosuke is such a mouthful-”

 

“That’s what she said,” Makki interrupts.

 

“Not to you she didn’t,” Asahi says.  Makki gasps softly and wraps his arms around Asahi, arms crossing over his face and smushing his nose.  Clinging like an octopus was one of Makki’s favorite methods of showing affection after all and Asahi was, unfortunately, his favored recipient.

 

“I love you so much sometimes Asahi.”

 

“-so what’s weird about calling him Ryuu?” Daichi finishes like the other two never spoke at all.

 

Tooru squints at Daichi suspiciously.  “You know when you say stuff like that and make that scrunchy squishy face I can never tell if you’re being serious or just fucking around with me.”

 

Asahi leans his head back and lets Makki smother him with affection as he debates the merits of saying fuck it all and just getting on a plane to whatever remote corner of the country Tooru is intent on dragging him to.  He is terrified of flying but right now he almost thinks he’d rather face down that fear than spend an undetermined amount of time in an SUV with his friends.

  
  
  


“So how is my favorite cryptid doing?”  Ryuu climbs into the SUV and practically sprawls across Asahi’s lap.  Hajime follows, much slower and much more coordinated, and settles into the back next to Makki.

 

“I’m as good as can be expected.”

 

Ryuu nods a few times.  “And how is my least favorite cryptid doing?”  Tooru stares at him through the rear view mirror, unamused, and Ryuu grins back at him.

 

This was going to be a long trip and Asahi wasn’t entirely sure they were all going to make it to their - still secret - destination in one piece.

 

“I’ll be better when I can throw you out of the SUV doing 90 down the highway.”  Tooru bats his eyes innocently and pulls out into traffic.  “Seat belts guys, gals, and non-binary pals.  Let’s get this show on the road.”

 

“Why do you have to do that,” Asahi asks Ryuu when they’re finally on the way and Tooru’s focus is on driving.  “Why do you have to antagonize him so much?”

 

“Uh.  Cause I don’t like him?”

 

“Ryuu.  I love you.  But we’re all stuck in this SUV together for the foreseeable future with Tooru as our main driver.  Please don’t make it worse than it will already be.”

 

“I love you too, Asahi.  But I make no promises nor guarantees.”

  
  


Asahi is still a little fuzzy on the details of this trip.  Like how they all managed to get an undefined amount of free time off from their various jobs and responsibilities and where Tooru got an SUV from and who exactly was funding this sudden road trip to safety or what they were going to do when they got to their destination.  No one else seems to share his concerns, however.  When Asahi asked them all Daichi had shrugged and reminded Asahi that he knew how much Daichi hated his current job.  Ryuu had slapped him on the shoulder and declared that there was no way he was leaving Asahi alone on the road with Tooru so that was all that mattered.  Makki had smiled and gone back to sleep instead of answering and Hajime made some sort of gesture at Tooru that Asahi interpreted as meaning something along the lines of Tooru dragging Hajime along whether he wanted to go or not.  Which really told him nothing he didn’t already know.

 

When he tried to ask where they were headed Tooru just squinted at him and told him not to worry about it and when he asked who was paying for the gas and the SUV and everything else Tooru had ignored him completely and turned the radio up.  Asahi had decided that an hour and forty-three minutes into their journey was a little too soon to push it any further and risk Tooru’s wrath but he vowed to corner Tooru at their first rest stop and make him talk.

 

Which would have been fine.  Except for the fact that the moment they finally stop somewhere Tooru practically bolts for the bathroom and then Asahi doesn’t see him again until he’s getting back into the SUV and Tooru is already there, tapping away at his phone with a furious look on his face.  There’s no warnings of Tooru being in danger flaring up in Asahi’s gut but he can sense Tooru’s frustration and Tooru startles when Asahi reaches out and gently taps his shoulder.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“Nothing that I can’t handle.”  Tooru flashes him a smile.  Asahi hates that smile.

 

“When you’re ready to stop lying to me and ready to stop being all ‘ooh mysterious’ about what’s going on I’ll be here.  In the backseat of this SUV.  Because you won’t let me drive it.  Because you refuse to tell me where you’re abducting me to.”

 

Tooru’s smile slips into something a little more genuine.  “You’re kinda hot when you’re being petty.  I love it.”

 

Asahi’s face flushes but he smiles back.

 

“Love you too, jerk.”

  
  


“Hey, Hajime?”  Asahi pulls him aside three rest stops later as the rest of them are bickering over where to eat.  “Do me a favor?”  Hajime’s eyes snap from the others to Asahi and he smiles nervously at the intensity there.  Hajime always leaves him feeling a little unsettled somewhere deep in his bones when he’s focused, especially when he’s focused on his best friend.  Asahi still isn’t one hundred percent sure Hajime approves of him as Tooru’s soulmate, even after all these years.  There’s just something about the way he holds himself apart from the rest of them that makes Asahi cautious.  “I don’t want to worry Tooru and it’s probably just a combination of lack of sleep and my overactive imagination and just a coincidence but I swear that car has been at every rest stop we’ve been at all day.”

 

Hajime glances over at the bland silver sedan parked a dozen spots away from their SUV and rubs his nose with the back of his hand.

 

“Want me to keep an eye out for it while we’re driving?”

 

“Please?  Like I said it’s probably just me being paranoid but after the last few weeks I just, I dunno.”

 

“Tooru told me a bit.  Most of it sounds like his usual conspiracy theory crap and shenanigans.  But it’s been enough to spur him into action.”  Hajime rolls his eyes at Asahi when Tooru yells at them to stop being anti-social and wasting time and to get back in the SUV.  “I’ll keep an eye out.  If you spot anything weird going on let me know.  I may not be into conspiracy theories or cryptids and ghosts but I’m not gonna shrug it off either.  I mean, I never believed in soulmates happening yet here you two are.”  Hajime shrugs and grabs Asahi’s jacket sleeve to tug him back to the SUV where Tooru is busy singing some chipper pop song that Asahi can’t quite remember the words to while Ryuu glares at him and mutters something about organizing a mutiny.

 

They haven’t been on the road for a full day yet but he’s still surprised that there haven’t been more threats of bodily harm between Ryuu and Tooru.  Maybe it won’t be so bad in the end, he thinks as Makki drags him into the very back seat so he can curl up against Asahi’s side and forcibly cuddle him into taking a nap while they head to wherever it was they decided to eat.

 

Or maybe it will be just like he thought it would, he concedes when he wakes up a few hours later to the familiar sound of Ryuu threatening to harm Tooru in some really convoluted and physically impossible way that just has Tooru laughing and shooting back a comment about how not even an alien needing any life form from Earth to go home again would pick Ryuu.

 

“Dunno why he’s so cocky,” Asahi whispers to Makki.  “He hasn’t had a date in like a year.”

 

Makki snorts and buries his face back into Asahi’s shoulder.

 

“Hey, Tooru,” Asahi calls out when the Tooru-Ryuu feud hits its peak.

 

“What?”  Tooru snaps.  He smiles apologetically when Asahi raises his eyebrows.  “Sorry.  What’s up, Asahi?”

 

He was going to ask if they were going to get a couple rooms for the night or if Tooru was planning on pulling into a rest stop and just sleeping in the SUV.

 

But after that snappy attitude Asahi simply smiles his sweetest smile, the one that gets him out of extra shifts and coworker parties and trouble with his elderly neighbor lady, and says, “Are we there yet?”

 

Ryuu’s eyes light up and he spins to face the driver’s seat.

 

“Are we?  Are we there yet?”

 

A chorus of ‘are we there yet’ fills the SUV and if looks could kill Asahi is pretty sure he’d be at least critically wounded by the one Tooru is giving him.

  
  


The actual full throttle death glare comes later that night when Daichi mutters the phrase as he drifts off to sleep and Tooru sits up in bed with a growl.  Asahi uses one of Makki’s tried and true methods of subdual and wraps Tooru in a tight full body hug and tumbles them both back under the blankets of a hotel bed that probably shouldn’t hold the weight of two grown men, but does somehow.  They’re asleep in minutes and it’s the best sleep he’s had in weeks.  Even when Tooru wakes him up via elbow to the side and refuses to share his coffee the next morning.

 

“It’s twenty-three miles away we have to go.”

 

Tooru glares at Ryuu in the front passenger seat, eyes leaving the road for only a moment.  Asahi still isn’t entirely sure how Ryuu managed to get the shotgun seat.  He suspects bribery in the form of reminding Daichi that Asahi makes a good pillow slash body warmer.

 

“No.”

 

“It’s the world’s largest salt and pepper shaker collection.  We have to stop.”

 

Ryuu has been pointing out every sign they’ve seen for the collection.  The first sign stated that it was one hundred thirty-seven miles before the world’s largest salt and pepper shaker collection.  If he’s being honest Asahi is a little impressed that Tooru hasn’t actually pulled onto the shoulder and thrown Ryuu into a ditch like he keeps threatening to.

 

“Five miles,” Makki mutters to Hajime.

 

“I bet he caves at seven,” Hajime mutters back.

 

“Ryuu will threaten him before then,” Asahi says softly from the seat behind them, trying not to wake Daichi up.  Asahi’s chin is hooked over their seat so he can peer out the windshield at wait for the next sign to appear.

 

“Fifteen miles.”

 

“No, Ryuu.”

 

Daichi snorts in his sleep and tips over until he’s squished between Asahi’s lower back and the seat.  Asahi scoots a little closer to Hajime and Makki’s seat so that he doesn’t accidentally suffocate Daichi.  The last thing he needs on this not quite nightmare of an impromptu vacation is to kill the closest thing he has to a safe and sane ally.

 

“Ten miles.”

 

“No.”

 

“Tooru I swear if you do not stop there I will shave your head in your sleep tonight.  I will buzz cut your hair shorter than mine so help me I need out of this SUV for longer than a lunch break or I will snap and you will be the first causality.”

 

“Yikes,” Makki says.

 

“Told you so.”

  
  


The World’s Largest Salt and Pepper Shaker Collection is pretty much exactly what Asahi expects it to be right down to the hodgepodge mess of slightly dusty shelves and the overpriced gift stand set up just inside the entrance.  But looking at Ryuu and Daichi you would think they had just stumbled into the most amazing amusement park in the world.

 

“I don’t understand,” Asahi says as he watches Ryuu cooing over a row of cartoon character shakers.  “I just.  What is the appeal?”

 

“You don’t understand the appeal of the shakers themselves or the concept of collecting them?”  Tooru asks.  Then he leans past Asahi to read a placard about the history of a pair of particularly bizarre apple shaped shakers with worms with wide purple eyes crawling out of them.

 

“Yes,” Asahi answers.  He wanders away and hopes he can find a less bizarre shelf of shakers to look at.  Preferably something without the blank shining eyes that seem to peer into Asahi’s soul and find him worthy of nothing more than perhaps a sacrifice.  Not even an important ritual one.  Just a normal Tuesday sacrifice.  Which just won’t do.  He’s been through to much to be an unimportant Tuesday sacrifice.

 

—

 

They’ve played fifteen rounds of I-Spy.  It’s been going on since they climbed into the SUV and to top it off they’ve been stuck in the same spot in traffic thanks to construction for nearly ten minutes.  At this point Tooru isn’t sure who will crack first: him or Asahi.

 

“I spy with my little eye,” Ryuu coos.  Asahi meets Tooru’s eyes in the rearview mirror and Tooru shudders at the look.   _ Sorry _ , he mouths to Asahi as Ryuu calls out for something orange.

 

“This game would be so much easier if I wasn’t colorblind,” Daichi grumbles.  Tooru’s arm stings and he glances down to see Asahi’s silvery script crawling along their shared mark.   _ You may be saving me from danger but you still owe me for this. _

 

“Just start guessing.  You know Ryuu and you know what colors most things are anymore right?”  Makki hooks his arm around Daichi’s shoulders and shakes him gently.  “You got this.  I have faith in you my friend.”

 

“Tooru’s obnoxious sunglasses,” Hajime guesses first.  Tooru scoffs.

 

“Excuse you these are tangerine, not orange.”

 

“Still obnoxious,” Hajime replies.

 

Ryuu shakes his head.

 

“A basketball,” Makki says.  He cackles when Daichi shoots him a betrayed look for saying that word and then starts looking around the SUV to makes sure no one  _ did _ bring one.

 

“Nope.  Daichi?”

 

“A pumpkin,” he answers distractedly, checking under the seats just in case.  The others look around at the pumpkin-less landscape and then back at him when he straightens.  “What?  That’s not a pumpkin?”  He points out the window and they all look.

 

“That, my love,” Ryuu says, “is a very unusual lumpy yellow glass looking ball.  Decoration.  Thing.  Actually I’m not entirely sure what it is but yeah no sorry.  Not it.”

 

Tooru snorts and Daichi glares at him.  Then he blows Daichi a kiss and Ryuu glares at him.

 

“It’s the billboard,” Asahi states.  “Can we play something else now?”  What Asahi really wants to play is the quiet game.  Or maybe the napping game.  Just…anything but another round of I-Spy.  Because he already knew that if Ryuu gets to pick again it will be the shiny purple sports car with the silver details a few cars in front of them.  And the round after that will be the bumper sticker on the van in front of them proclaiming that the owner has ‘The Smartest Kid in the World’ on board.

 

“Asahi is a pro at this game.”  Ryuu reaches over to slap Asahi’s shoulder with a grin that Asahi can’t help but return dully.

 

“Or you just suck at picking out things,” Makki suggests.  Ryuu reaches forward to slap him in the back of the head as Makki starts laughing.

 

“Fine.  Let’s do some singing or something instead.  I’m getting bored with I-Spy anyway.”

 

It’s a lie and they all know it.  Ryuu could play I-Spy for an entire day and wake up the next morning refreshed and eager to start another round.  Asahi’s just glad for the reprieve.  At least until Makki and Ryuu start a touching rendition of  _ It’s A Small World After All _ that they manage to loop six times before Daichi pulls Makki into a headlock and Asahi tries to bury his head between his own knees with a whimper.  They’re going to be lucky to make it to their destination - which Tooru still hasn’t revealed anything about other than it being “a safe place” apparently - without killing anyone off.

 

—

 

There’s nothing special about the hotel they pull into for the night but the sight of it still makes Daichi want to knock Tooru out of the driver’s seat and turn them right around.  The neon vacancy sign sends shivers down his spine that he can’t quite place or control and the sign proclaiming the best night’s sleep of your life for some reason reminds him of weekends spent stuck in a stuffy tent with his parents with rocks under his sleeping bag trying not to itch bug bites and wake his parents up.  He surveys the parking lot warily.  There’s nothing there but a plain gray four door sedan of some kind at the other end of the lot.

 

He meets Asahi’s eyes and sees his own unease reflected there.  Tooru seems to sense it as well and he gives them both a brilliantly bright smile that is probably supposed to make them feel better but honestly it just makes Daichi even more nervous.  It’s the kind of smile that Tooru usually gets before he drags Daichi into a pie eating contest or dares him to lick some random counter top or cell phone which, because it’s a dare and it’s Tooru, of course he does it.

 

“Are you sure about staying here?”  Daichi asks as Tooru is about to hop out of the SUV.  “Isn’t it a little, I dunno, cheap for your tastes?”

 

“Yeah well so are you most days but we’re still friends aren’t we?”

 

“Oho,” Makki coos, “harsh.”

 

“If you’re lucky Dai maybe I’ll make sure we get a room big enough you don’t have to sleep on the floor tonight.”  Tooru gives him a flirty wink.  “Or maybe you can share my bed.”

 

“Yeah.  I’ll sleep in the SUV thanks.”

 

Asahi jerks awake sometime in the night to find Tooru and Makki deep in conversation.  It’s only strange because even when there are other people around them their bond usually keeps them both sound asleep and Asahi distinctly remembers Tooru falling asleep minutes after he crawled into the bed and curled up, holding onto Asahi’s arm like a favored teddy bear.  He wants to ask what woke Tooru up but then he catches something about cars following them and rest stops with no animals and strange lights in the darkness and he wonders if it’s too late to just slip over to the other room with Daichi and Ryuu and Hajime, even if he’s not sure he wants to get in the middle of the particular can of worms that is whatever is going on between the three of them right now.  But when Tooru starts talking about some site he where totally found these really legitimate conspiracy theories about NASA being a cover up for an entire branch of rogue space explorers who are being sent out to make contact with aliens and how they know so much more than they’re letting on Asahi seriously considers saying fuck it and just dealing with whatever he stumbles upon in the other room.  He would just sleep on the floor if he had to.  Maybe the bathtub.  He just wants to take a step away from the conspiracies and aliens and governments chasing them theories.  Right now Ryuu’s cryptid filled ghost hunts sound like a nice quiet walk in the park compared to the reality of Asahi’s life and the weird shit he’s been dealing with and the growing gnawing feeling in his gut that maybe Tooru’s not as wrong as Asahi wants him to be.

  
Not that he’s planning on telling Tooru that any time soon.


	4. the last passenger

It’s been a long few days and Asahi is ready to suffocate Tooru with a pillow in his sleep.  Actually.  Tooru doesn’t necessarily have to be asleep.  Asahi doesn’t really care right now.  It’s been well over a week since they left and Tooru still isn’t telling them anything.  If any of them bring it up he grins at them and waves it away with some vague comment or another.

 

Though that little niggling in the back of Asahi’s mind tells him Tooru isn’t necessarily wrong.  He’s in denial, not blind and dumb.  He’s seen the cars following them.  Experienced the lack of animals at rest stops.  Found his phone with weird errors and log in screens even now that they’re on the road.

 

He just.  Finds it a bit hard to believe that he, that they, are actually in the middle of some weird plot to be abducted into space as cadets in a new space military or part of some centuries old conspiracy about secret organizations and super powers and government cover ups.  That’s all.  That and he hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in probably a month so his thought process is admittedly a little hazy at the moment and he would like to crash into a soft bed someplace dark and quiet and sleep for at least fifteen hours straight.

 

Instead he is standing next to the SUV and glaring at Tooru who is glaring down at his phone.

 

"They're gonna catch up to us and leave us dead in a ditch somewhere."  Tooru shakes his phone angrily.  Because that totally helps with the fact that he got them lost.  Again.  Because he still refuses to tell any of them just where they hell they are going and why getting there requires a stop in this specific town.  A message pops up on his phone and he curls around it protectively, darting suspicious glances at Asahi as he replies.

 

"I am going to leave you dead in a ditch somewhere if you don't stop talking," Asahi mutters under his breath as he catches sight of Ryuu coming back from the gas station, arms laden with snacks.

 

"Wow okay who peed in your Cheerios this morning Asahi?"

 

"I didn't have any Cheerios, Tooru, because  _ someone _ did  _ something _ and now we're on the run from  _ the government _ ."

 

“Yikes,” Ryuu says as he reaches them.  Then wisely decides to turn around and head back inside the gas station to wait for the others.

 

“I’m not being paranoid if I’m right.”

 

“If.  If you’re right.”

 

“Seriously, Asahi.  Why are you being so grumpy about this?”

 

Because the only other choice he had was to admit that Tooru was right.  But he can’t tell Tooru that.  Because sometimes he is just as stubborn as Tooru.

 

“Just, ugh.  Why are we here?  You won’t tell us anything but suddenly we go from what appears to be a pretty straightforward albeit slow path across the country to a turn off that leads us to Absolutely Nowhereville and after four hours we just  _ have _ to stop in this even more Nowhereville town.”

 

Tooru’s phone vibrates with a message again and he glances down at it and then further up the block.  “Oh look!  A diner.  Let’s go grab something to eat.”  He hurries off and leaves Asahi staring after him.

 

Tooru had many strengths.  Subtlety was not one of them.

 

“I’ll just pay for the gas and get the others and drive us all over there then.  Don’t worry about it.  I got it.”

  
  


Sweetie’s is a place he recognizes instantly, though he has never been here before.  The smell of grease and salt hangs in the air, heavy but comforting in the way that only small diners with creaky booths and perpetually sticky tables (no matter how recently cleaned) and cracked menus can be.  The bell over the door jangles hollowly as they step inside.  It’s not hard to spot Tooru in the far corner booth, at 11AM Sweetie’s isn’t exactly packed, and unsurprisingly he’s already found someone to talk to.  All Asahi can see of Tooru’s new companion is long ashy hair and delicate hands as they gesture at something outside and Tooru laughs delightedly.

 

Warning bells sound in Asahi’s head.  This is not Tooru’s ‘amuse the public laugh’ or his ‘look good for my admirers’ laugh.  This is something closer to the obnoxious snickering thing he does when he and Daichi start egging each other on and Asahi’s stomach drops.  He debates leaving.  Just turning right around and getting in the SUV, he does have the keys after all, and driving off into the midmorning sun.  But Makki is right behind him, crowding him forward into the diner, and Tooru looks up and spots him and the person with him looks over their shoulder and Asahi is suddenly subjected to two blinding smiles.

 

Oh.

 

No.

 

Oh no.

 

“Nope,” he whispers, leaning all his weight against Makki and refusing to move no matter how much Makki pushes at him.  He would have won too if Daichi hadn’t chosen that moment to reach around Makki and pinch Asahi’s side.

 

With a squeak he jerks forward and Makki pushes him to Tooru’s booth.

  
  


“So,” Tooru says after they manage to squeeze five more people into the booth, “this is Koushi Sugawara.  They’re the one I’ve been telling you guys all about.”

 

“Please call me Suga.”

 

Asahi sees straight through the bright smile Suga gives them to the layer of worry and unease resting beneath it.

 

“If by ‘telling us all about’ you mean that you never mentioned them despite the fact that you have been texting them more and more frequently the longer we’ve been on the road and have done a completely horrible job at changing the topic subtly whenever we ask about it then yes.  You’ve told us all about them.”  Hajime rests his chin in his hand after he finishes and stares at Tooru, practically challenging him to try and deny it.

 

“Thank you,” Asahi says, “for saying that so I didn’t have to.”

 

Hajime winks at him.  “No problem, babe.” 

 

Makki gasps dramatically beside him.  “Hajime!”  Makki hooks his arm through Asahi’s and glares at Hajime.  “You stay away from him.  Get your own personal heater slash pillow.  Stop trying to flirt with mine.”

 

Ryuu leans forward to peer around Makki and wiggle his eyebrows.  “You can flirt with me Hajime.”

 

“Ryuu!”  Daichi hisses from his spot beside Tooru, scandalized.

 

“Aw, Dai.  Sweetie.  Love of my life.  You know I didn’t mean anything.”

 

Poor Suga, trapped in the corner spot between Ryuu and Tooru, is watching with an amused sort of concern on their face as Tooru buries his face in his hands and whines.

 

“I never thought I’d miss the days when Hajime didn’t know or like any of you.”

 

Asahi nudges Tooru’s shin under the table a few times until Tooru looks up at him.  Telepathy, thankfully, isn’t one of the random soulmate skills they’ve picked up over the years but they know each other well enough that Asahi can tell Tooru is slightly regretting this meeting but not actually too upset over it.  A rather bland ‘I really didn’t think this one through did I’ look crosses Tooru’s face as Ryuu coos at Daichi and Hajime declares he’s going to run away with Makki and adopt a lizard with him and name it Puffinstuffs and Suga just shakes their head at it all, laughing when Hajime offers to let them come with.

 

As lunch time rolls around Sweetie’s starts filling with chatter and the sounds of clinking dishes and glasses and, of course, the laughter from their booth as they order food and rile each other up and steal from each other’s plates.  It surrounds them with a bubble of warmth and comfort and for a little while Asahi forgets all the weird stuff that’s happened and the strange coincidences and he forgets to look over his shoulder every time the door opens.

 

“Anything else I can get you all?  Dessert?  Refills?  More fries?”  Their server is a tall guy with startlingly blue eyes and a mop of hair just this side of messy and curly.

 

“Actually, uh,” Asahi looks down to the purple name tag with a name in delicate silvery script and he can’t help raising his eyebrows as his gaze flickers back up, “Betty.  It’s probably about time we get the check and get out of your hair.”  

 

Betty nods and scribbles a few more things down on his pad and then drops their bill on the table.  “Whenever you’re ready then.  You can see Betty at the register to pay.”

 

A cheerful guy with fluffy looking blonde hair is at the register, smiling kindly at something the old lady he just handed change to is saying.

 

“Betty.  Right.”

 

Tooru starts arguing with Ryuu and Daichi over who is paying for what and Asahi tunes it out.  He knows how it will go.  They’ll bicker and snark at each other for a few minutes before Tooru snatches up the bill and practically runs for the register to pay.  His only problem will be getting past Hajime since he has the outside seat.

 

“Hey, Betty, order’s up,” the guy at the register calls out.  Asahi can just make out the wild red hair of the cook as he places the plates on the counter between the kitchen and the rest of the diner.

 

Their server hangs by the booth and studies something outside.  Asahi glances to the register and then at their server.  “Uh.  Don’t you need to grab that?”

 

He shakes his head.  “Nah.  Not my order.”

 

Asahi peeks around him to the counter where a guy with stylishly messy brown hair is grabbing two plates.

 

“How do you know which Betty he’s talking to?”

 

The Betty in front of Asahi winks at him and holds up a finger to his lips.  Betty at the register drops a handful of silverware that he was sorting and shoots the Betty next to Asahi a glare as he turns bright red.

 

“Be nice,” the third Betty chides as he walks past and slips back behind the counter.

 

So much for forgetting about the weird stuff happening, Asahi thinks as they all pile out of the booth and Betty heads back to join Betty behind the counter with a laugh.

 

“What’s up,” Tooru asks, bumping Asahi’s arm with his elbow.  Hajime walks ahead of them with the bill and hands it to Betty at the register with some cash.  He slaps Ryuu’s hand when he tries to reach over his shoulder with more cash.

 

“I feel like something important just happened or like I was supposed to have some huge moment of enlightenment but I have no idea what.”

 

“You sure it’s not just indigestion?”

 

Asahi slowly turns to stare at Tooru with a look of disgust.  Then he drops the look and shrugs  “Well I mean you weren’t the one cooking so I’m fairly sure it’s not that.”  They leave Sweetie’s behind with the hollow ring of the bell over the door.  “So you gonna tell me where we’re going now?”

 

Tooru taps his chins and hums in contemplation.  

 

“Nope.”  He fishes the SUV keys out of Asahi’s hoodie pocket.

 

“Of course not,” Asahi mutters to himself.  Pinpricks run across his back and he glances over his shoulder to see register Betty watching them climb into the SUV.

 

“Are we going to play a game?  Oh can we play I-Spy?”  Suga asks as they slide into the seat next to Ryuu who gasps and gives them the sunniest smile Asahi’s seen on Ryuu’s face in a long time.

 

“I think I love you,” he whispers.  Daichi clears his throat and glares at them both.  Suga giggles softly and leans forward to ask Tooru a question and Ryuu suddenly finds the gravel parking lot especially fascinating.

 

“No more I-Spy,” Daichi growls.

 

“No more I-Spy,” Ryuu agrees with a pout.  Then he grins and nudges Suga’s side.  “Hey Suga do you sing?”

  
Asahi has no idea how much longer this trip to this mysterious safe place is going to be but Asahi feels that no matter how close it is, it’s still way too far away.


	5. death cabin

The gravel drive winds through a dense maze of tree trunks and shadows that were dark even on the sunniest of days.  When they finally reach the end Asahi wants to shove Tooru out of the driver’s seat and turn them around and go right back down the drive.  Because that is a death cabin if he’s ever seen one.

 

“You dragged me across the country for this?  I have been stuck in the backseat of that SUV for the last two days with Daichi’s smelly feet and Makki’s stare of doom for this?  I want a refund.”

 

The cabin was decent, once upon a time he was sure, but now nature seemed to be taking it back.  Any paint that might have been on the walls was long gone and it would be a nice weathered look if not for the chunks missing and the vines creeping along it.  They had been left long enough that some of them were even starting to creep along the roof.  The railing on one half of the porch was completely missing and the other half looked ready to fall off with a strong wind and he was pretty sure that at least a quarter of the windows were missing or broken.

 

“Dude,” Ryuu whispers reverently, “this is definitely a haunted cabin.”

 

“It’s a death cabin.  I’ve seen the movies,” Asahi whispers back.  “There’s definitely some wild eyed crazy mountain man killer holed up in there.  We should just turn around and leave.”

 

Everyone, predictably, ignores him though Suga does shoot him a slightly sympathetic look before they punch Asahi on the shoulder in what he thinks is supposed to be an encouraging manner as they hop out.  He’s not sure.  Suga has only been with them for a day now so Asahi doesn’t know all of their quirks and tendencies but he’s pretty sure the punching thing is a weird way of showing affection similar to Makki’s octopus act.  He slowly climbs out of the relative safety of the SUV.  

 

The cabin doesn’t look any less like a mountain serial killer’s lair after they’re all out in the open.

 

“Yep.  This is it.  This is where I die.  This is totally a horror movie.  That is a horror movie cabin."  The door creaks open and Asahi sighs.  "Fuck my life Tooru this is entirely your fault.  Make sure someone gets that on my headstone.  ‘Here lies Asahi Azumane.  His death was entirely Tooru Oikawa’s fault.’"

 

“Stop being quite so dramatic, Azu.  You’re going to be perfectly fine.”  Tooru smiles at Asahi.  He is not relieved.  Even if his ‘Tooru’s in danger’ senses aren’t flaring up.  He suddenly feels that just going home is a much more preferable option to whatever is waiting in he cabin.

 

They all study the open doorway, some with more caution and wariness than others.  There’s a shadow in the doorway because of course there is and just as it starts to move towards the light Hajime lets out a loud groan and Asahi jumps and looks at him in surprise.  And maybe a little fear.  Because they are in the middle of the woods twenty feet away from a cabin of death he’s allowed to be scared okay.

 

"Oh fuck this is the one who sends you Pepe memes and videos of hot knives cutting weird shit at 3AM isn't it?"

 

Tooru flicks his hair away from his face with a haughty huff.  "Yes, now get in the death cabin before the government finds us and vivisects Asahi."

 

“And you called Asahi overdramatic?”  Daichi scoffed.  “Listen to yourself.”

 

Asahi does not want to be vivisected.  Or dissected.  Or autopsied.  Or anything.  He would like to stay alive and in one piece.  Sadly he is not sure which is safer at the moment: the death cabin or taking his chances in the woods.  He rubs at his temples in an attempt to stave off the headache that’s been building since he woke up and sighs.

 

“Pepe memes and videos of knives cutting stuff?” Makki asks, clearly intrigued.  He manages two steps forward before Asahi snags the strap of his bag and yanks him back.

 

“And this is why you’re going to die a horrible death one day, Makki.”

 

“Stop being a limp noodle, Asahi.”  Makki shakes off Asahi’s hand and heads for the cabin.  Asahi reluctantly follows him, grabbing Daichi’s shirt and dragging him along since he looks like he’s ready to go take his chances in the woods.  _  If I’m going in there you’re coming with me, _ his look tells Daichi.  

 

“You are not leaving me in this death cabin with Ryuu and Tooru and Suga and Makki and him.”  He points to Hajime who is now sitting comfortably in an old rocking chair Asahi didn’t even see a moment ago.  He looks as content as can be, like he’s been here hundreds of times before, and he studies the woods around them almost passively.  It creeps Asahi out.  The sudden onset of the feeling of someone watching him creeps Asahi out even more and he peers into the woods suspiciously.

 

“Ah, Tooru.  You finally made it.”  The shadows form into a man that steps into the light and glances into the nearby trees.  His messy hair and suspicious eyes don’t make Asahi feel any more at ease.  This is still the lair of some kind of killer.  He can sense it.  “Alone I assume?”

 

“Hey Mattsun.  Yeah as far as I can tell we’re cool.”  Tooru waves for the rest of them to follow him.  “We’ll do intros once we’re all safe inside.”

 

‘Safe inside’ sounds totally fake judging by what ‘outside’ looks like but he figures he really doesn’t have too much of a say in matters right now.  Tooru has the keys to the SUV.  For now.

 

Makki steps up to the cabin and stares at the shadow-maybe-a-killer named Mattsun intently.  Mattsun stares back.  

 

"Have we met somewhere before?"  Makki asks.

 

"Nah.  But I get that a lot around here."

 

"From who?"  Asahi looks out into the woods surrounding the cabin.  "The squirrels?"

 

They all - including Mattsun - pause and look at him a little incredulously and yeah okay maybe he’s being a little irritable.  But really.  Can anyone blame him?   He's been cooped up in an SUV with the others for just over a week.  He's about to step into what he knows is a death cabin, the means of his death is still uncertain though he's pretty sure right about now that his soulmate's death will be by his own hands because between dragging him across the country and refusing to answer any of his questions and giving him that stupid fake smile he knows Asahi hates, Tooru is on every last one of Asahi’s nerves right now.  Not to mention the fact that Ryuu spent the last two days alternating between singing You Are My Sunshine, the Doublemint Gum jingle, and Wannabe by Spice Girls.  To which Tooru retaliated by cranking the volume of his Now That's What I Call Music 59 CD to max and Asahi’s head is about to explode.  Without the help of any government agencies or aliens or unhinged mountain axe murderers.

 

Asahi gives Tooru a look.   _ If I die I am coming back to haunt you with a giant tambourine _ , the look says.  With a dash of  _ I swear if you leave me alone with them for any lengthy amount of time I will get revenge in the most disgusting and petty way possible.  It might involve squids. _

 

Tooru shudders minutely.  Telepathy or not he gets the message loud and clear.  Then he ushers them all inside with an airy voice, though he does make sure to stick close to Asahi on the way in.  The feeling of being watched doesn’t go away until the rickety door clicks shut behind them.

 

The inside of the cabin is just as broken down and dusty and beaten looking at Asahi expects, barely a shelter from the woods around them, until Mattsun leads them into what might have once been a closet in a bedroom - it’s hard to tell exactly what any room might have been when it appears that nearly every non-load bearing wall either has a giant hole in it or has been ripped out entirely.  But the closet is still standing and when Mattsun slides the door open Asahi isn’t all that surprised to see the stairs inside leading down to a heavy door.  

 

Of course he has some kind of underground bunker.  Of course Tooru dragged him across the country just to hide him in some secret bunker in the middle of the woods.  Because this is Asahi’s life, apparently.

 

“Mi casa es tu casa,” Mattsun drawls.  “There’s only my room and four others that are good for sleeping so y’all’ll have to fight over who’s bunking with who.”

 

“If anyone even suggests Ryuunosuke and I share a room I will murder that person in their sleep.”  Tooru looks over his shoulder to meet Daichi’s eyes.  “Am I clear.  Daichi?”

 

The others take off to explore the bunker with Mattsun trailing along behind and explaining different rooms as they come across them but Suga lingers with Asahi near the door back to the real world.  It’s a good door, solid and thick and reinforced, and honestly it does make Asahi feel a little better about being here.  Suga seems less comforted and they tighten their grip on the strap of their bag where it crosses their chest and swallows almost nervously.

 

“Is everything okay?”

 

Suga grins at him.  But doesn’t let go of their bag strap.  Asahi glances down the hall when Ryuu shouts something about a sword and makes a note to ask Mattsun where his first aid kit is located.  When he looks back at Suga they’re biting their lip.

 

“Seriously.  Are you okay?  Are you uncomfortable here?  Tooru can take you somewhere else if you need him to.  Despite what he says we  _ can _ function without him for a few days.”  Asahi smiles down at Suga, trying to get them to relax, even just a little bit.

 

“I just.  Is it really okay that I’m here?  I mean, other than Tooru, none of you even know me.”  Daichi comes back into view and gives the two of them a questioning look.

 

“We’ll explore soon,” Asahi tells him and waves him off.  He’s not too worried about the whole who is sharing a room with who thing.  Chances are he’ll be with Ryuu or Makki and it’s not like any of them have truckloads of stuff to unpack.  Though he could go for finding a washer.  For Daichi’s socks if nothing else.  He hadn’t been joking about Daichi’s smelly feet.

 

“I could be a mass murderer or government agent or something,” Suga says.  “You guys don’t know.”

 

Asahi studies them for a minute, takes in their wide brown eyes and long silvery hair and the little beauty mark under their eye and the way they keep clenching at their bag strap like it’s their lifeline and the only thing keeping them from bolting back up the stairs, then he sighs.

 

“Okay here’s the thing.  While most of the time I may not trust Tooru’s judgment one hundred percent, I mean have you ever seen him dress himself in the winter?”  Asahi remembers Tooru’s outfit of choice last winter.  It involved a glow in the dark scarf he may or may not have made himself out of a package of glow in the dark boxers Asahi bought him as a gag gift and bright pink mittens that Hajime had knit for him as, yet again, a gag gift.  He shakes the memory out of his head.  “Anyway.  What was my point?  Oh yeah.  He sometimes has shitty judgment but I know without a single doubt in my mind that he would never let anything happen to me and he would never befriend anyone that could seriously pose a threat to me.  Plus if you were a danger to me he wouldn’t have let us out of his sight.”  

 

Suga finally relaxes a little at the conviction in Asahi’s voice.  Until something thumps heavily somewhere deeper in the bunker and Hajime’s laughter reaches them.

 

“Also,” Asahi adds, “just for the record, I have no clue what was going on with you before Tooru picked you up in the diner, none of us do, and whatever it is doesn’t matter.  As long as you can manage to deal with us then as far as I’m concerned you’re more than welcome to be here.  I don’t know this Mattsun guy at all but if he’s a friend of Tooru’s then I’m sure he thinks the same thing.”  Another thump fills the hallway and Asahi sighs.  “Time to go see what disaster is happening now.  Care to join me?”

 

“Is it safe?”  Suga winces as another thump is followed by a loud crash.

 

Asahi shrugs and calls over his shoulder.  “Safe as life I suppose.”

  
“One: I understood that reference.  Two: that is not comforting in the slightest.”  Suga takes one last lingering glance at the heavy door at their back and then hurries after Asahi.


	6. meet pete

It’s quiet in the bunker - peaceful - and despite it being a bunker Asahi thinks it’s pretty comfortable too.  The walls are concrete and Asahi knows they’re reinforced with steel and some other stuff but they’re also covered with random movie and music posters and little display cases filled with key chains and tiny stuffed animals and strange trinkets.  There are the normal bright lights in ceiling panels but, Mattsun had explained, they’re mostly there as backups and the main lighting actually comes from the rope lights along the floors and warm lamps in corners and twinkling icicle lights strung up on the walls.  It has an oddly homey feel to it.  Especially the kitchen that’s surprisingly large enough to fit all eight of them at once, comfortably, and the big den next to it, separated by a long softly lit counter.

 

Asahi still isn’t sure how someone the same age as him has managed to set up and maintain something like this.  Something so complex obviously cost a lot of money to build in the first place.  Running it off the grid can’t be anything simple or cheap either.  But he hasn’t quite gotten up enough courage to ask for many details.  Hell he hasn’t even managed to ask how long they’re going to be staying.  Sometimes he thinks that Mattsun seems so much older than the rest of them, like he’s experienced eons of life instead of just a couple decades.  But then he does something so undeniably childish that Asahi has to stop and stare a little.  Like having a 45 gallon fish tank with nothing in it except a little diver with bubbles coming from it.  Or refusing to allow Tooru’s iced coffee drinks on the same shelf as his own super sugary energy drinks.  Or like right now when he yells down the hallway with a high pitched whine and Asahi freezes outside his and Ryuu’s room.

 

“Pete you used me!  I trusted you!  I raised you from a teeny little baby.”

 

Asahi watches the cream and white rat hurry out of Mattsun’s room and past Asahi down the hallway with a french fry in her little mouth.  He doesn’t even have to wonder which room she veers off into because Tooru lets out a little shriek of surprise and disdain.  Asahi’s not sure why Tooru dislikes the rat so much.  Personally he thinks she’s pretty adorable and very well behaved.  She hasn’t once tried to bite him or chewed through any of his clothes.  Tooru is not so lucky.  The first thing Pete did was pee on Tooru.  Asahi thought it was hilarious.  Tooru, not so much.

 

Pete comes running back out of Tooru’s room, french fry-less, and a moment later Tooru leans out the door and glares down the hall.

 

“That little rat is an asshole.”

 

“That’s not a very nice thing to say about yourself.  Even if it’s true.” 

 

Asahi closes his eyes and bites his lip, hoping Tooru didn’t hear Ryuu.

 

“I hate you with every fiber of my being,” Tooru grits out.

 

“Feeling’s mutual,” Ryuu singsongs.

 

One day.  That’s all he wants.  Just one day with those two in close proximity where they don’t threaten each other.  Asahi tries to imagine it.  Tries to picture them actually getting along and maybe teasing each other the way he and Daichi do.  Then he shudders and promises himself never to imagine that again because it was frightening.

 

—

 

Time is funny in the bunker.  They’ve only been here a few days but somehow Asahi already feels like he’s known all of them his entire life.  It’s both comforting and concerning. Mattsun unsettles Asahi still but he’s pretty sure he could spend a decade with Mattsun and still be unsettled by him.  It’s something about how quiet and observant he is.  Asahi’s life isn’t exactly known for being quiet and peaceful.

 

He steps into the kitchen and braces himself when he sees who is in the attached living room.  Makki and Mattsun had hit it off so well that if it wasn’t for their lack of any marks or special little skills Asahi would assume they’re soulmates.  Some moments he’s still not entirely sure they aren’t.  One of their favorite things to do is team up together to pester and poke at the rest of them until they snap back.  Mostly Tooru, though they’ve gone after everyone at least once.

 

Today’s current victim appears to be Ryuu, who is making his way through the living room to the hallway.  Or trying to anyway.

 

“No I seriously can’t stand him.”

 

Makki’s pale eyebrows raise and he grins from his spot on the couch.  “I dunno.  Me thinks the Ryuu doth protest too much.”

 

“Dude.  I wouldn’t even hate fuck him if we were the last people left in the universe.  Just.  No.”  Asahi’s not even sure he wants to know what part of this conversation he’s already missed.

 

“Oh?  Wouldn’t you?”  Mattsun drapes himself casually against the door frame and forces Ryuu to stop in his tracks.  He has the audacity to look like he didn’t plan this in the slightest and Ryuu frowns.

 

“Maybe if I didn’t have to look at him and his mouth stayed shut and I was dying and he had like a magic healing cock or something.  Maybe.  And even then I might just take my chances with death.”

 

Mattsun whistles.  “Damn.  You really, genuinely don’t like him do you?”

 

“Don’t worry.  The feeling is mutual,” Ryuu explains.  “But we both love Asahi so we tolerate each other.”

 

“That’s, uh, actually kind of sweet.”

 

Makki finally looks into the kitchen and spots Asahi.  He smiles and pats the spot next to him on the couch.

 

“Why do you two have to antagonize them with that?  Of all the topics and dumb stuff you could use?  Why is is always their feelings for each other?”  

 

Makki ignores the question to hook his arm around Asahi’s elbow and pillow his head on Asahi’s shoulder as soon as Asahi sits.  Asahi leans his head down to rest it on Makki’s.  If there was one thing he could always count on it was Makki’s need for touching.  It was comforting, especially since most people tended to avoid Asahi and found him intimidating at first glance.  But Makki was forever plastering himself to Asahi, hooking his chin over Asahi’s shoulder, taking his arm to drag him places, hooking their pinkies together when Asahi’s anxiety started to kick in at a store or big event.  Tooru may be Asahi’s soulmate but Makki is his comfort.

 

They watch Mattsun pick and poke at Ryuu while Ryuu grows steadily more irritated.  Tooru is his soulmate, Makki is his comfort, and Ryuu is Asahi’s oldest, most loyal and protective friend.  His own personal knight and protector.  He’s the only person Asahi’s ever met who would literally fight someone for their friends.  Sure everyone says it.  But he’s seen it in action.  Ryuu actually almost got expelled their last year of high school for getting into a fight with someone who was talking about Asahi and Daichi behind their backs.

 

Mattsun jerks forward suddenly, stumbling into Ryuu and almost knocking them both to the floor, and Daichi steps into the living room from the hallway.  Mattsun rubs the back of his head where Daichi hit him and scowls at Daichi.  Ryuu opens his mouth to say something but Daichi cuts him off before he can speak and starts scolding them both.

 

If Tooru is his soulmate, Makki his comfort, and Ryuu his most loyal friend, then Daichi is his humor and humility and reminder to take life for what it is and laugh at it all.

 

Suga slips onto the couch on Asahi’s other side doing just that; laughing at the way Ryuu sticks his tongue out at Daichi childishly and rolls his eyes before Daichi narrows his eyes and tackles Ryuu and they hit the floor with a yelp.  Asahi’s not entirely sure which one it’s from.

 

“Two things,” Suga says quietly as they shift a bit before tucking their toes under Asahi’s thigh.  “One: Ryuu and Tooru are a lot more alike than I think either of them want to admit.”

 

“I’ve always thought that was part of why they butt heads so much,” Asahi replies.  “Two?”

 

“Two: you would think this place is filled with a bunch of teenagers and not a bunch of twenty-somethings.”

 

“What else do you expect to happen when you lock a bunch of twenty-somethings in a concrete bunker?”  Makki leans forward to look at Suga, who shrugs. “They regress to actual five year olds,” he explains.  “They fight.  They pull each other's hair.  They make a mess.  They give each other makeovers.  They play truth or dare.”

 

“Truth or dare!”  Tooru gasps from the entrance to the hallway, gleeful.  

 

Hajime groans from the hallway.  “I think I’d feel safer with makeovers.”

 

“I will only accept a makeover if it makes me look as manly as Daichi and Hajime combined but still as delicate as Tooru’s ego.”  Tooru squawks in offense at Makki’s words and throws the nearest thing he can reach at Makki.  Unfortunately that’s just the ball of yarn Hajime had been carrying so despite it being a direct hit on Makki’s nose it doesn’t do much damage.

 

“So what you’re saying is that you wanna look like Asahi?” Ryuu asks as the ball of yarn bounces off Makki’s nose and lands in Asahi’s lap.

 

“I would rather look  _ at _ Asahi but, you know, whatever works.”

 

“I do not have a delicate ego,” Tooru pouts.  “Suga do I have a delicate ego?”

 

Suga tucks some of their long hair behind their ear and bites their lip.

 

“I don’t think I feel qualified or comfortable enough to answer that question,” they say.  “Can you ask someone else?”

 

—

 

With eight different people in an enclosed space there tends to be a variety of differing opinions and, at times, tempers.  Asahi knew this about his friends before he even got in the SUV.  Tooru and Ryuu’s mutual dislike for each other is a well known non-discussed topic among their group, for example.  Lesser known but still occasionally discussed is Asahi and Tooru’s ability to rile each other up and get on each other’s nerves faster than Daichi stops to watch a dog.

 

The topic they learned to avoid talking about in anything other than vague statements unless they were talking about specific abilities was soulmates.  That topic had led to more than a few arguments, weeks of ignored messages, and fist fights.

 

Unfortunately Suga and Mattsun haven’t been privy to that little tidbit.

 

“Okay.”  Suga leans their head back to look up at Asahi.  They smile when Asahi pushes their head back up so he can keep braiding their hair.  “So.  Soulmates.”

 

Tooru sucks in a deep breath.

 

“Soulmates are-”  Asahi cuts him off before Tooru can start his rant on conspiracies that usually takes anywhere from ten minutes to an hour and is always interrupted when Ryuu starts his twenty minute long speech on soulmates and cryptids and ghosts and supernatural beings.

 

“‘Government conspiracies fabricated to explain the existence of unusual abilities among a select few potential future generations of adventurers that were selected and or bred by life not originally from this planet so we may one day explore the reaches of space and be on equal footing with our extraterrestrial neighbors.’  Yes.  I know.”  Asahi takes a deep breath and drops his head back onto the couch.  “You know once upon a time I thought the worst soulmate I could have would be Takahiro, no offense.”

 

Makki winks at him.  “Only minimal offense taken cause you’re cute.”

 

“Thanks.”  Asahi sighs again.  “But now.  Now I know better.”

 

“You know.  I feel like I should be offended by that Asahi.” Tooru pouts and settles carefully onto the couch next to him.

 

“Really?  Because I feel like you should be used to it by now,” Ryuu says from Asahi’s other side.

 

Asahi loves his friends.  He loves his friends dearly.  He also loves not being a murderer and not being in jail.  But sometimes.  Sometimes they tempt the hell out of him.

  
  
He’s starting to wonder if having all of them cooped up together is such a good idea.


	7. truth or dare/into the woods

“Daichi.”

 

“Yes?”

 

Tooru grins triumphantly.  “I dare you to kiss Hajime.”

 

A week and a half locked in the bunker and they have finally turned to things like truth or dare to keep themselves entertained.  Asahi’s not sure if he should be surprised it took this long or embarrassed they’re playing games like twelve-year-olds at a sleepover.

 

“Really?” Daichi asks, unimpressed. 

 

“Yes.”

 

Daichi shrugs.  “Fine.  It wouldn’t be the first time.”

 

Tooru squints at him.  “With tongue,” he says coolly.

 

Makki, Ryuu, and Suga all ‘oooh’ and nudge elbows with each other like a bunch of twelve-year-olds.  Which shocks no one, really.  Asahi meets Mattsun’s gaze and then rolls his eyes with a shake of his head.

 

“Again. Not the first time.  But I accept your dare.”

 

Daichi hops to his feet and struts towards where Hajime is sitting on one of the barstools at the counter.  He settles himself between Hajime’s legs and makes sure to kiss him as obnoxiously as possible, with what seems like far too much dramatics and Asahi never really needed to see Hajime’s tongue inside Daichi’s mouth ever in his life.  They don’t seem to have any plans to stop and Asahi watches in amusement as Tooru starts to blush.  The longer Daichi and Hajime make out the redder Tooru’s face gets.

 

Tooru makes a disgusted noise and a pillow flies across the living room and bounces off the back of Daichi’s head and they finally part.  Daichi leans back in for one quick peck and then turns to Tooru with a smile.

 

“Aww,” he coos, “is someone jealous?  You know I can give you kisses too, Tooru.”

 

“Ew no.  I just saw where your mouth was.”

 

This does exactly nothing to deter Daichi, who starts back towards Tooru’s spot on the couch with his arms open while he makes kissy noises at Tooru and purses his lips.  Tooru attempts to climb into Asahi’s lap like that will protect him somehow.

  
  


“Tooru.”

 

“Yes Daichi?”

 

“I dare you to eat that tupperware of leftovers that was in the fridge before we got here.”

 

Tooru stares at Daichi in disgust.

 

“One you’re not supposed to dare the person who just dared you.  Two that is disgusting.”

 

Daichi shrugs.  “You can ask me for a truth instead.”

 

Tooru’s face scrunches and he makes a series of impressively coherent disgruntled noises before finally sighing dramatically and getting off the couch.  He flounces past Hajime and yanks open the fridge door.

 

“Fine but if I get food poisoning you’re sitting on the floor next to the toilet with me and holding my hair back and patting my back soothingly.”

 

“As you wish.”

  
  


A few rounds later after Asahi answers Makki’s truth regarding how many people in the room he’s kissed - four - and Tooru answers Makki’s truth about how he and Suga met - on an online chat about gender and conspiracies in modern media - and Tooru refuses Hajime’s truth - details about his last wet dream - and is forced to accept his dare instead - to strip down to his boxers and perform  _ Barbie Girl _ for them all - and a few more questions it’s Asahi’s turn again.

 

“Tooru.”

 

“Why is everyone picking on me tonight?”

 

“You’re fun to pick on,” Hajime answers without missing a beat.  “Why don’t you have any fish in here again, Mattsun?”

 

“I don’t have a good track record with fish.”

 

“Tooru?”

 

“Yes Asahi?  Love of my life.  My sweetest friend.”

 

“Truth: what exactly are we doing now that we’re here?”

 

Everyone seems to freeze for a moment.  Then Tooru’s mouth drops open slightly and Makki hisses softly through his teeth.  Asahi doesn’t move a muscle and barely even blinks when Tooru’s eyes meet his own.

 

“Dare,” Tooru finally says.

 

Asahi’s jaw clenches.  This is Tooru.  This is his soulmate.  This is the person who balances him.  The person who keeps evading him and refusing to give him a straight answer.

 

He shakes his head and stands up with a scowl on his face.  “Forget it.  Ryuu can have my turn.”

 

“Tooru.  Dare,” Ryuu says before Asahi even makes it back to his room.  They hear a bedroom door shut as Ryuu continues.  “I dare you to leave.  Right now.  And never come back.”

 

The others share glances as Tooru and Ryuu glare at each other, both looking ready to start throwing punches at a moment’s notice.

 

“Maybe someone should, uh-”

 

“Truth,” Tooru cuts Suga off.

 

“What exactly are we doing now that we’re here?”

 

Tooru continues to glare at Ryuu and breath slowly and deeply, cheeks turning pinker the longer they stare at each other.  He mutters something under his breath then shoves to his feet and stomps out of the living room.

  
  


“Well,” Suga says pleasantly while they all attempt to not eavesdrop on the raised voices coming from Asahi and Tooru in the hallway.  “This isn’t awkward at all.”

 

“Honestly,” Makki says.  “I’m surprised it’s taken this long for the two of them to get to this point.  I would have expected Asahi to snap sometime around the third night that he was stuck in a hotel room in close proximity to Tooru’s insomnia.”

 

A door in the hallway slams and a moment later Tooru storms past the living room doorway and they hear the heavy door leading to the stairs back to the cabin swing open and then boom shut again.

 

“I am not it this time.”  Hajime crosses his arms and stares at the rug on the floor.  “Someone else can go after him.”

 

“I am not going traipsing through the woods.  I’ll go check on Asahi.”  Suga gets up and stretches.  “Good luck.”

 

“I’ve got him,” Daichi says.  “Mattsun you coming with?”

 

“Do I have a choice?”

 

“Small one.  But you do know the woods best.”

 

Mattsun sighs and then grins.  “Let’s go search the woods for our wayward friend.”

 

Ryuu follows Suga towards Asahi’s room, leaving Hajime and Makki behind.

 

“We’re finally alone,” Makki whispers dramatically.  “Wanna make out like horny teenagers?”

 

“He needs fish,” Hajime replies.  “We should go buy some fish.”

 

“You never like my ideas.”

 

"Your ideas always involve your tongue in my mouth."

 

"You didn't complain when it was Daichi's tongue."

 

“That’s because I like Daichi’s tongue in my mouth.  Are we gonna go buy some fish for this tank or what?”

 

—

 

Tooru isn’t mad at Asahi, not really.  He just still, after all these years, doesn’t understand why Asahi has to have so many plans.  Why he can’t just go with the flow and see where things take him.  He supposes he understands Asahi’s reasonings for not letting Tooru lend him money and for not staying with Tooru rent free.  It’s all about Asahi being able to take care of himself and Tooru gets that.  Really, he does.  But he just wants to keep Asahi safe and the only way he knew how to when everything started going weird was to bring him to the bunker.  He hadn’t actually gotten much further than that because honestly he would probably be pretty content to stay here for awhile.  Not forever, sure.  But a few months in the middle of nowhere away from whatever strange people or forces were seeming to be out to get Asahi had sounded like a perfect plan to him.

 

He had expected Asahi to want answers eventually but he’d been hoping for a little more time to come up with them.  They’d barely been away from their apartments for a couple weeks.  He had been hoping for a solid three weeks at the very least.

 

He just needs to come up with something to appease Asahi.  Even a vague plan would be good enough for Asahi to get off his back about everything and let him relax.

 

Which is why he is here, trekking through the woods and trying to clear his mind so he can properly think about the more or less immediate future.

 

Also  Tooru isn’t lost.  He knows the bunker is behind him, somewhere not quite half a mile back probably, and he’s fairly certain Daichi and Mattsun are maybe a quarter mile behind him.  So he’s not lost.  But he’s also not entirely sure where he is.  Somehow the woods feel different here.  There’s a thickness to the air that’s not quite normal and every breath he takes leaves a weird taste in his mouth.

 

He stops to take stock of the woods around him and notices a strangely neat patch of flowers that seems to wind between the trees like some sort of path.

 

He’s a few hundred feet along the flowery path before he even registers his decision to move.

 

“So where’s that soulmate of yours?”

 

Tooru freezes midstep over a log.

 

“My what now?”  He’s not sure which direction the voice came from or who exactly he’s speaking to.

 

“Your soulmate.”

 

“What exactly makes you think I have one?”

 

“Oh I don’t think.  I know.  We pegged you for soulmates practically before you even got out of the SUV at the diner.”

 

He glances up and spots someone sitting in the tree above him.  Bright blue eyes watch him as he steps over the log and leans against a nearby tree.

 

“Is that so?”

 

Tooru feels a familiar niggling warning of danger creep down his spine and a slow smile spreads across the man’s face.

 

“Something wrong?”  He asks Tooru sweetly.  “I know that faraway look in one’s eyes when their soulmate is in trouble.  You didn’t leave him all defenseless somewhere, did you?”

 

“You stay the hell away from him,” Tooru hisses just as Daichi and Mattsun stumble through the trees nearby.

 

“Oh no no.  You’ve got it all wrong.  I’m not interested in him.  I’m here for you.”

 

—

 

A twisting clench of worry in his gut is the only warning Asahi gets before the door to his and Ryuu’s bedroom swings open.  Suga looks up almost sleepily from their spot sprawled across the foot of Asahi’s bed with Ryuu perched on their lower back while he braids their long hair.  The three of them were the only people left in the bunker - Makki had informed them of Daichi and Mattsun going after Tooru when he stopped by to tell them he and Hajime were going to pick up some stuff in town - and there hadn’t been enough of a racket to indicate any of them coming back.  Yet somehow Asahi already knows who will be in the doorway when he looks up.

 

“Betty number three,” he says calmly.

 

The brown haired man in the doorway waves casually at him, then pouts.

 

“Excuse you?  I am the original Betty in our little trio.  Thank you very much.”  He takes a bite out of the sandwich in his hand.  “And you’re out of lettuce.”

 

“You’re from the diner,” Ryuu states.  “What are you doing here?”  He doesn’t move from his spot on Suga’s back, though he doesn’t need to move to look or sound intimidating.  His tone and the way he’s staring at Betty in the doorway is plenty intimidating.  Betty, however, doesn’t seem to be affected in any way.  He just eats his sandwich and glances around the room, eyes lingering for a few seconds on the paintings hanging on the wall with a private little smile: a set of three paintings of apple trees next to a river at sunset.  They were Asahi’s favorite thing about his and Ryuu’s room though if this unusual stranger was so taken with them he might have to change his mind.

 

“Well I’m certainly not here to kidnap anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about.  Gentle persuasion perhaps.  Maybe a little pleading.  Kidnapping’s not really my thing.”  He reaches behind him and tosses a bag onto the bed between the three of them.  “That being said if you could maybe put those on that would be wonderful and incredibly helpful.”

 

Something crashes above the bunker, loud and heavy enough to rumble through the thick walls even down here, and Ryuu shoots to his feet.

 

“What the hell?”

 

Betty points to the bag.  “Please?”

 

The ivy-under-his-skin itch of Tooru writing on their mark tugs at him and that twist of worry knots even tighter in his stomach.  But he is strangely calm as he reaches over and dumps out the contents of the bag.  Three light green blindfolds with silver markings scrawled on them fall onto the bed.

 

Betty smiles.  Asahi’s arm aches with the weight of the words crossing their bond.  The blindfolds are soft under his fingers.  Ryuu growls something that makes Betty laugh.  Suga sits up and slides across the bed to press against Asahi’s shoulder.

 

Another crash manages to rattle the walls.  Asahi meets Suga’s eyes and hands them a blindfold.

 

“Are you sure about this,” Suga whispers, eyes darting towards where Ryuu has planted himself between Betty and the bed.

 

“Not entirely,” Asahi answers truthfully.  “But I haven’t been sure of much of anything for awhile now.  And Tooru told me just before he left that I need to ‘lighten up’ and ‘jump in headfirst sometimes’ and ‘damn the consequences’ and all that.  So.  I guess they’re damned.”

 

Suga runs the blindfold through his fingers with a sigh.

 

“Hopefully we’re not all damned with them,” they say.

 

—

 

“But I wanted to get two nice betta fish for that big ass fish tank Mattsun has.”

 

“Hajime.  The strip mall was on fire.”

 

“All the more reason to save the fish and take them back with us.”

 

“On fire.  No fish to buy and no one to sell them to us because the entire mall  _ was on fire _ .”

 

“I already had names for them Makki.  They were gonna be Ducky and Cocoa.”

 

“Fire.  Hajime.  Fire.”

 

Hajime huffs.  He had really kind of been looking forward to getting the fish for some reason.  But then they had pulled up to the strip mall to see fire trucks and a crowd of people and had hopped out to see what was going on and now that they’ve determined there are no fish to be bought they’re heading back to the SUV empty handed.  Which sucks.

 

“Want to stop for ice cream before we head back?  We can get that double fudge ripple stuff in a waffle cone and brag about how great it was and piss Tooru off.”

 

Hajime opens his mouth to answer - double fudge ripple in a cone and pissing Tooru off are two of his favorite things - but frowns when he spots someone leaning against the SUV.  The man is vaguely familiar in that way that complete strangers sometimes are when you’re thousands of miles from home and it’s not until they get close enough to spot the purple and green bobby pins holding his bangs out of his face that Hajime recognizes him as the cashier from the last diner they had stopped at.

 

“Hi,” the guy says.  “You remember me, right?”  Hajime nods.  “Oh good that makes this marginally less awkward.  The other two are being ridiculously and needlessly dramatic.”  The man tilts his head, eyes going distant for a moment, then he shakes it.  “So here’s the thing.  I need you two to come with me.  Your friends will be coming too, don’t worry,” he adds before either of them can say anything.  “It’s just kind of hard to explain what’s going on and it will be easier and make much more sense to explain to all of you at once when we get there.”

 

“Where is ‘there’ exactly?”  Makki asks suspiciously.  The man reaches into a paper bag at his feet that Makki hadn’t even noticed when they walked up and pulls out two small clear dishes and presents them triumphantly.

 

“’There’ is where we are going,” he explains as he holds the dishes out towards Hajime.  “And these are for you.”

 

“Ducky and Cocoa,” Hajime whispers almost reverently.

 

“Are you seriously bribing us with fish to come away with you to some secret lair or something?  We’re not some dumb kids who can be lured away with candy you know.”

 

A sweet smile slips onto the man’s face when Hajime takes the dishes from them and holds them up so he can see the betta fish inside.  One is a dark charcoal color with red spiky tips on his fins and the other is a shimmery turquoise-purple mix.  He turns his attention to Makki and the sweet smile turns sharp and knowing.

 

“No.  I am bribing him with fish.  You’re going to come along because he does.  Or am I wrong?”  Makki groans and he laughs softly.  “I mean if I need to I can lure you in with bad pick up lines and brilliantly bright sunshine smiles.  But we really need to be going so I would appreciate it if you just, you know, came with?”

 

“One pick up line,” Makki says as he pulls out his phone and sends Daichi a text, hoping he’s still chasing down Tooru in the woods and has his phone and that it has some kind of signal.

 

"When I first saw you I looked for a signature.”  The man smiles, leaning towards him like he’s sharing a secret.  “All the masterpieces have one you know."  

 

Makki nods appreciatively, eyes flicking down to read Daichi’s reply confirming a sudden spike in strange shit happening for them too.  Then he grins at the blonde not-quite-a-stranger.

 

"I’ll never need to see the sun again,” Makki states.  He waits a beat until the man raises his eyebrows questioningly. “Because your smile has lit up my entire life."  He shoves his phone back in his pocket and jingles the SUV keys in the air.  “Fine. Whatever.  But if we get to whatever creepy dungeon you’re taking us to and our friends aren’t there Hajime will punch you in the face.  Are you driving or am I?”

 

“That sounds fair.  Now.  Take one of the dishes, please.”  Hajime hands over one of the small bowls, murmuring something about being nice to Cocoa, and Makki holds it up eye level to look at the charcoal colored fish when the man tells him to.  “Focus on the fish and take a deep breath.”

 

Makki’s eyes flicker to the side to meet Hajime’s.  He’s reassured by the tiny speck of unsureness in Hajime’s eyes and then his eyes are back on the fish swimming around in front of his face and he breathes in so deep his chest hurts.

 

Colors burn at the edges of his vision, tempting him to look away from the fish that was now turned just enough to stare back at Makki, eye wide and almost sparkling like stars in the night sky.

 

Then everything goes dark.

 

—

 

Cracks and crashes and thundering chaos echoes through the woods.  Tooru’s spine is crackling with lightning fast whips of danger so fiercely he’s surprised the tree he’s pressed against isn’t burning up from them.  Daichi’s back is pressed against his chest and Mattsun’s fingers are digging into his forearm.

 

“What the hell is going on?”  His voice is barely audible over the ruckus.  Movement catches his attention and he watches in awe as the trees in the distance start to bend and twist like long grass being trampled and the path of flowers that had led him here seems to shiver and droop.

 

The man in the tree lands in front of them in a crouch - superhero landing, Tooru’s brain helpfully supplies - and says something under his breath before standing and turning towards them.  The flowers turn brown and dry and fall to the forest floor.

 

“I need you three to close your eyes.”

 

“What,” Tooru asks incredulously.  “No.”

 

Daichi meets Tooru’s eyes over his shoulder and nods.  Tooru’s spine feels like he’s hooked straight up to a battery and he leans forward against Daichi’s back.  Mattsun squeezes his arm and his eyes flutter shut.  The noise seems to double, triple, quadruple around them until he’s sure his head is going to explode from the pressure of it all.

 

Then the world goes silent.

 

—

 

The blindfold is cool and silky against his skin and Asahi’s gut churns with worry as Suga presses against his left side and Ryuu backs up until his legs hit Asahi’s knees and he tumbles onto Asahi’s lap.

 

“Thank you,” Betty says kindly.  “This will be over in a jiffy.”

 

There’s some rustling that Asahi can’t quite identify.  It sounds like clothes sliding against each other but at the same time it’s wind through tall grass but it’s also leaves skittering along pavement.  He licks his lips and tastes something almost lemony in the air, warm like summer time but damp like spring.  There’s a sharp snap just as another of those earth rattling crashes fills the air and Asahi gasps in surprise as his skin heats up.  It’s burning, but it doesn’t hurt and his brain can’t keep up with the slide of sensations.  A touch of blue, a flash of winter, a jangling caress.

  
Then everything is cold.


	8. you're not wrong

A flash of light fills the small room as three bodies slip into existence, one standing tall near the doorway and two sliding to the floor in an almost hypnotized daze as their eyes flutter shut.  The blonde lets out a long sigh and steps outside.

  
  
  


The vibrations are the first thing that he registers.  An ever-present hum of pressure in his ears and against his skin like the rumbling snores of a giant slumbering in the distance.  The next thing Makki notices is the not quite room temperature metal wall his cheek is pressed to, the sensation of his forehead pressing against cool glass, and the warmth of Hajime leaning heavily against his back.  When he finally opens his eyes he freezes at the sight of nothing but blackness and tiny pricks of starlight then he scrambles backwards as a wave of vertigo hits him at the sight of the wide open nothingness stretching out mere inches from his nose.  Hajime lets out a grunt of displeasure when Makki nearly knocks him over.

 

“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?” Makki mutters to himself, eyes wide as he searches the room for something, anything, familiar.  His eyes land on the small dish of water near Hajime’s hip and the charcoal fish swimming around inside it.  He snatches it up as an automatic door whooshes open nearby and he scoots backwards across the floor away from the door until his back hits metal and Hajime’s elbow digs into his side.

 

Hajime rubs at his eyes with one hand, the other still gently holding the small dish with his shimmery fish inside, and frowns when the blonde man steps inside.

 

“Welcome aboard the Kasna Stron,” he says with a smile that fades as he glances around the room.

 

“Where’s everyone else?”  Hajime pushes to his feet, swaying for just a moment as he adjusts.  He mimics the look around the room and meets the man’s eyes with a questioning look.

 

“Shit,” the blonde mutters.  Then he shrugs in defeat and shuts his eyes.  “Go for it.”

 

Hajime cradles the small dish gently against his chest and lashes out with a punch that sends the blonde stumbling back into the wall.  The door beside him whooshes open quietly and then closes again a moment later with an almost sad sounding puff when no one steps through it.  Makki’s honestly a little surprised that the man actually let Hajime hit him considering Makki had been half joking about it.  He winces in sympathy as the blonde presses gingerly at his cheek and licks his already swelling lip.

 

“Do you feel better about things now?”  The blonde asks with a glance between Hajime and Makki, rubbing at his lip almost nervously.  He doesn’t seem nervous about Hajime and Makki, though, and if he hadn’t seen it happen Makki probably wouldn’t believe this guy just took a punch to the face from Hajime.  Even though he  _ did _ see it happen Makki isn’t entirely sure it did.  He’s not sure of too much of anything right now.  Other than the fact that one moment he was staring at a fish in an almost empty parking lot and the next he was in some sort of metal walled room with a view of - if his brain isn’t lying to him and he’s not entirely sure it isn’t - the stars like he’s somewhere in the middle of them.

 

“Well if nothing else at least you’re a man of your word,” Hajime answers.  The blonde nods at him but his eyes are distant like his attention is a million miles away.  

 

A rumbling cacophony of cracks and buzzes fills the air, leaving their ears ringing and their heads throbbing, and it grows and grows and grows until it stops with a snap as Tooru, Daichi, and Mattsun suddenly stumble into existence.  Tooru hits the ground on his knees next to Makki and Daichi and Mattsun lean heavily against each other a few steps away.  A dark haired blue eyed almost stranger steps into existence beside the blonde - one moment there was nothing and the next, BAM, he was there and Makki does not like this at all - and opens his mouth but before he can say anything a wave of heat floods the room and almost knocks everyone over.  Asahi, Suga, and Ryuu appear, sitting cross legged on the floor with a brown haired man standing between them.

 

“Akira what happened?”  The brunette demands as he strides across the room and presses the blonde’s cheek gently.  “Who did this to you?”  He looks around accusingly, eyes narrowing when he sees the fish in Hajime and Makki’s hands.  “Why do they have those?  What did you do?”

 

“You two were being dramatic and I promised those two that their friends would be here upon our arrival.”

 

“Akira.”

 

“Kiyo.”

 

“Take them back.”  For a moment Makki thinks he’s pointing at Hajime and himself and he’s about to protest - or pass out or throw up honestly he’s not sure which - because he is not going anywhere without his friends and then he realizes that the brunette, Kiyo, is pointing at the dishes with the fish in them.

 

“You know I can’t do that,” the blonde, Akira, says patiently, rubbing at his swollen lip with his thumbnail.  “What’s done is done.  You wanted them here and they’re all here now.  How it happened is irrelevant.  Besides if you’re going to scold anyone scold Shiro.  He’s the one about ready to pass out from using too much energy.”

 

Makki listens to the three people that he finally registers as being the servers from the diner they stopped in bickering as he looks around the small room at all his friends, who are also looking around in confusion and amazement and slight nausea, and then he stretches up just enough to look out the round window at the endless expanse of darkness pressing in. 

 

Asahi sits down next to him and tugs Makki into his lap and, feeling safe and comfortable for the first time since before he left the bunker that morning, Makki promptly passes out.

 

—

 

“We’re in space.  They’re aliens.  Holy shit aliens are real.”

 

“I’m thinking less alien more weird ass faerie creature,” Ryuu says.  He’s seated on the floor with his knees drawn to his chest, staring out the viewport on the opposite end of the hall.  Tooru paces the length of the hallway, eyes wide and sparkling in the dim light of the ship.

 

“We’re in  _ space _ Ryuu.  Space!”

 

“I don’t know what happened with you, but what I experienced was not teleportation, Tooru.  That was fucking magic!”

 

“Oh do you have teleportation experience I am unaware of?  Are you suddenly an expert on all things science and spaceships?”

 

“No but I’m pretty experienced in the kind of weird things that go bump in the night that those three seem to swaddle themselves in before they go to sleep.”  Ryuu studies the flush on Tooru’s cheeks, the sparkle in his eyes, the excited rise and fall of his chest as he leans as close to the viewport above Ryuu’s head as he can.  “Why are you so obsessed with space and everything being aliens anyway?”

 

Tooru’s eyes dim and his face grows serious.  It’s the look Ryuu sees sometimes when he watches Asahi and Tooru together, that distant look where it seems like Tooru is plotting out every single last thing that could go right or wrong and examining every possibility and outcome down to the last glimmering speck, like he’s going to protect Asahi through sheer willpower and observation.  Once upon a time he would have been more uncomfortable with Tooru, of all people, mere inches from his face but he had grown accustomed to his presence, in an odd sort of way.  He doesn’t even have the urge to shove him away or punch him.  He thinks Asahi would be proud.

 

“Why am I obsessed with space?”  Ryuu nods.  Tooru’s eyes never leave the viewport.  “I like how space doesn’t care about me,” he says simply.  “It’s impossible to disappoint the sun or the stars.  There’s something comforting about being a speck of nothing in the grand scheme of things.”

 

“That is not the answer I would have expected.”

 

Tooru glances down and huffs.  “I mean yeah I love the shiny spaceship exploring the wide open world of space aspect and all that.  But I like the fact that for once I’m just.  Small.  Insignificant.  The stars don’t care who my parents are or who my uncle was.  The sun couldn’t care less who I am or what I did last week.”

 

Asahi steps out of a room at the far end of the hallway and gives them a slightly confused look - Ryuu’s not surprised, he and Tooru rarely stay within ten feet of each other if they don’t have to after all - before he starts to head towards them.

 

“Don’t worry,” Ryuu whispers as he pats Tooru’s thigh and hops to his feet.  “I don’t care about you either.”  He smiles when Asahi gets close.  “So is the love of my life awake?”

 

“If you mean Makki, then yes.  But I thought I was the love of your life.”  Daichi steps out of the room as well and shoots Ryuu an unimpressed look.

 

Ryuu shrugs.  “What can I say?  My love can not be contained.”  Suga steps out from one of the other rooms and joins them in the hallway, pulling their long hair into a messy bun and leaning next to Tooru to stare out the viewport.  

 

“Has anyone heard anything about what’s going on or what we’re doing or where we are?”  Suga asks.  Daichi steps up behind them and drops his chin onto Suga’s shoulder with a hum.  After a moment he rolls his head to the side and knocks it into Tooru’s shoulder.

 

“I tried asking,” Daichi says, “but they just kind of,” he makes a wiggly fingered gesture, “handwaved it away.  Said something about making it up as they go.”

 

They all stare out the window in silence, watching the stars twinkling and flickering in the seemingly never ending darkness.

 

“Guys,” Ryuu whispers suddenly, smacking Tooru and Suga on the back, “pals, friends I got it.  They’re both.  They’re  _ space faeries _ .”


End file.
